NATIONAL 

EDUCATIONAL 

ASSOCIATION 



Departments of Secondary and Higher Education 

Report of Committee 
°'' College Entrance 
Requirements 

July, 1899 



SIXATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



Report of Committee 



on 



College Entrance Requirements 

July, 1899 



Appointed by Departments of Secondary Education and 
Higher Education at Denver Meeting 
July, 1895 



PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION 



-^ 



PRINTED AT 

Zhc lllniversitis ot Cblcago t>ic6s 
1899 



CONTENTS 

PART I 

PAGE 

Historical Sketch -..-----.5 
English -.--.----. 12 

Suggested List of Books for Reading and Study - - I7 

Foreign Languages and Literatures - - - - - 19 

History, Civics, and Economics - - - - - - -IQ 

Mathematics - - - -- - - - - 20 

Sciences .......... 2^ 

Physical Geography - - - - -- - 24 

Biology --------.-24 

Botany - .- . . - . - 24 

Zoology - -- - -- - - -25 

Physics --.------ 25 

Chemistry ......... 2.t 

Resolutions -..-.---. 27 

National Units or Norms - - - - - - - -41 

Resolutions of Thanks - - -- - - - - 45 

Editorial Committee - - - - -- - -46 

Conclusion - - - - - - - - - 46 

PART II 

Report of the Committee of Twelve of the American Philological Association on 

Courses in Latin and Greek in Secondary Schools - - - - 50 

Course of Study Recommended in Greek - - - - - 61 

Four- Year Latin Course - - - - - - -72 

Five-Year Latin Courses - - -- - - - 73 

Six-Year Latin Course - - - - - - - - 73 

Appendix A — Comparative Table of Latin Courses - - - 74 

Appendix B — Enrollment of Pupils in the Various Secondary Studies - - 75 

Report of the Committee of Twelve of the Modern Language Association of 

' America _.___-- .-77 

Value of Modern Languages __.--- 80 

Critical Review of Methods - - - - - - -84 

Modern Languages in the Primary Grades ----- 96 

National Grades of Preparatory Study in Modern Languages - - - 100 

Elementary Course in German ------ 102 

Intermediate Course in German - - - - - -112 

Advanced Course in German - - - -.- - 112 

Elementary Course in French - - - - - - "^13 

Intermediate Course in French - - - - - - 116 

Advanced Course in French - - - - - - "II7 

Specimen Examination Papers - - - - - -II7 



CONTENTS 



Report of the Committee of Seven of the American Historical Association - - 126 

Choice of Subjects - - - - - - -- 128 

Recommendations for College Requirements - - - - - 128 

Entrance Examinations - - - - - - - 132 

Four-Years' Course in History - - - - - - -I33 

Three- Years' Course in History - - - - - -134 

Report of the Committee of the Chicago Section of the American Mathematical 

Society - - - - - - - - - 135 

Methods - - - - - - -- - 136 

Arithmetic - - - - - - - - -138 

Algebra - - - - - -- - -. 140 

Demonstrative Geometry - - - - - - -142 

Trigonometry - - - - - - - -143 

Preparation of Teachers - - - - - - -146 

Science in the Grades - -- - - - - - 150 

Report of the Committee on Physical Geography - - - - - i^\ 

Preparation of the Teacher ______ 162 

Appendix — Apparatus for Physical Geography - - - - 164 

Report of the Committee on Chemistry - - - - - - 165 

Value and Place of Chemistry - - - - - - -165 

Outline of a One-Year Course - - - - - -166 

Equipment - - - - - - - - . - 169 

Report of the Committee on Botany - - - - - - 171 

First Course - - - - - - -- - 173 

Second Course - -- -. - - - 174 

Report of the Committee on Zoology - - - - - -176 

Character of the Course - - - - - - - 177 

Extent of the Course - - - - - - - -178 

Report on Physics - ._ . _ - . _ 180 

Outline of Laboratory Work - - - - - - -180 

Partial List of Those \A\.o have Assisted in the Preparation of this Report - 183 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



Los Angeles, Cal., July 13, 1899. 



To the Department of Secondary Education and the Department of Higher 
Education of the National Educational Association : . 
The committee appointed by your honorable bodies in July, 1895, to 
study the question of college-entrance requirements has the honor to 
submit the following report. 

A. F. Nightingale, Chairman. 
William H. Smiley, Secretary. 
George B. Aiton. 
J. Remsen Bishoi^. 
John T. Buchanan. 
Paul H. Hanus. 
Burke A. Hinsdale. 
Ray Greene Huling. 
Edmund J. James. 
William Carey Jones. 
James E. Russell. 
Charles H. Thurber. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON COLLEGE- 
ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 



PART I 



To the Department of Secondary Education and the Department of Higher 
Education of the National Educational Association : 
The committee appointed by your honorable bodies to study the 
question of college- entrance requirements, for the purpose of harmoniz- 
ing the relations between the secondary schools and the colleges, to the 
end that the former may do their legitimate work, as the schools of the 
people, and at the same time furnish an adequate preparation to their 
pupils for more advanced study in the academic colleges and technical 
schools of the country, submits the following report : 

HISTORICAL SKETCH 

At the meeting of the Department of Secondary Education of the 
National Educational Association at Denver, in 1895, a paper was read 
by Professor William Carey Jones, of the University of California, on the 
subject, ''What Action Ought to be Taken by Universities and Secondary 
Schools to Promote the Introduction of the Programs Recommended by 
the Committee of Ten ?" Discussion of this paper led to the motion 
for the appointment of a committee to report a plan of action on the 
basis of Professor Jones' paper. 

The committee presented the following report : 

Whereas, The most pressing need for higher education in this country is a better 
understanding between the secondary schools and the colleges and universities in regard 
to requirements for admission ; therefore 

Resolved, That the Department of Secondary Education appoint a committee of five, 
of which the present president shall be one, and request the appointment of a similar 
committee by the Department of Higher Education, the two to compose a committee of 
conference, whose duty it shall be to report at the next annual meeting a plan for the 
accomplishment of this end, so urgently demanded by the interests of higher education. 

This resolution was unanimously adopted, and the result communi- 
cated to the Department of Higher Education, from which the following 
reply was presently received : 

Secretary Thurber. 

Dear Sir : The Department of Higher Education has arranged to have a committee 
appointed to co-operate with the Committee on Secondary Education in regard to require- 
ments for admission into colleges and universities. Very truly, 

Joseph Swain, 
5 Secretary. 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



The president of the Department of Secondary Education announced 
the appointment of the following committee in accordance with the above 
action : William Carey Jones, Berkeley, CaL; A. F. Nightingale, Chicago, 
111.; C. H. Thurber, Hamilton, N. Y.; J. R. Bishop, Cincinnati, O.; in 
addition to the president, W. H. Smiley, Denver, Colo. 

President James H. Baker of the University of Colorado made the 
following nominations to represent the Department of Higher Educa- 
tion : Nicholas Murray Butler (an original member of the committee, 
who has been unable to participate in its deliberations), New York city ; 
B. A. Hinsdale, Ann Arbor, Mich.; James E. Russell, Boulder, Colo.; 
John T. Buchanan, Kansas City, Mo., and Paul H. Hanus, Cambridge, 
Mass. 

Early in January, 1896, at the suggestion of Professor C. H. Thurber, 
the committee proceeded to organize by correspondence, each member 
sending his vote to William H. Smiley, of the Denver High School. 

This action resulted in the election of Dr. A. F. Nightingale, superin- 
tendent of [the Chicago high schools, as chairman, and Mr. William H. 
Smiley, principal of the Denver High School, District No. i, as secretary. 

As no appropriation had been made for the prosecution of the work 
by the committee, no general conference was held this year, but members 
of the committee as individuals, yet acting in their official capacity, sent 
out circulars, collected opinions, gathered statistics, and requested the 
various educational associations of the country to enter upon a discussion 
of questions correlated with the general subject of college-entrance 
requirements. 

The chairman also invited the four associations which were main- 
tained for the purpose of furthering the interests of secondary and college 
education to appoint each a committee of three to co-operate with the 
national committee in its investigation of all matters pertinent to the 
general subject of inquiry. 

Accordingly there were appointed, from the New England Associa- 
tion of Colleges and Secondary Schools, Messrs. Albert Bushnell Hart, 
John Tetlow, and Ray Greene Huling ; from the Association of the Mid- 
dle States and Maryland, Messrs. Melvil Dewey, E. H. Griffin, and Wilson 
Farrand ; from the Southern Association, Messrs. W. P. Trent, E. A. 
Alderman, and W. H. Bartholomew ; from the North Central Association, 
Messrs. G. B. Gilbert, J. H. Canfield, and W. H. Butts. 

The national committee, altho no general conference had been held, 
presented its first unofficial preliminary report at the meeting of the 
National Educational Association at Buffalo, July, 1896. This consisted 
of one hundred and fifty pages of printed matter, which was published in 
the June number of the School Review, thru the courtesy of the Univer- 
sity of Chicago and of Professor Charles H. Thurber, editor and member 
of the committee. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 



The report was devoted largely to a tabular statement of entrance 
requirements to sixty-seven representative colleges and universities of the 
United States, with a resume and critique of the requirements in the dif- 
ferent subjects, by members of the committee and others who were deeply 
interested in these tables. ' 

This June, 1896, number of the School Review is a very valuable docu- 
ment, since it presents for the first time since 1879,* i^ ^ compact form, 
in parallel columns, the requirements for admission to the A.B., Ph.B., 
and B.S. courses of the leading colleges and technological schools of the 
country. These requirements deserve careful study, and the more they 
are studied, the more conflicting, incongruous, and unsatisfactory will 
they appear, and the keener will be the appreciation of the absolute 
necessity of radical reforms, and the reasonableness of the suggestions in 
the reports to follow. In the same volume appears a semi-official report 
of the chairman, from which we extract the following : 

There is no educational subject before the American people requiring more serious 
attention, demanding a calmer discussion, greater wisdom, a keener appreciation of the 
trend of present civilization, and a loftier spirit of altruism than that which relates to an 
American system of education which shall be consistent with psychic law from the kin- 
dergarten to the graduate school of the university. 

The kindergarten has not as yet become an integral part of the public-school system, 
but its claims are being rapidly recognized. The common-school curriculum, both urban 
and rural, is in a plastic state, awaiting the touch of inspired artists. The colleges are 
much at variance as to what constitutes a liberal education in these closing years of a 
century which began with scarcely any difference of educational opinion ; while the sec- 
ondary schools, awaiting, on the one hand, the abridgment and enrichment of the com- 
mon-school curriculum, and, on the other, a more uniform expression of opinion on the 
part of the colleges as to their functions, are suffering from their inability to supply the 
deficiencies of the former or to satisfy the demands of the latter. 

It is generally admitted that, until secondary education commences, children should 
have much the same training ; yet even in the lowest grades individual direction should 
not be lost sight of, as the mind very early gives evidence of a divine implanting which 
must not be ignored. Thruout the course of secondary instruction, surely, there must be 
no Procrustean bed which every pupil by some process of dwarfing or stretching must be 
made to fit, but natural endowments, as soon as discovered, should have full scope, within 
certain limitations. College courses ought to be so adjusted that every pupil at the end 
of a secondary course recognized as excellent, both in the quality and quantity of its 
work, may find the doors of every college swing wide to receive him into an atmosphere 
of deeper research and higher culture along the lines of his mental aptitudes. We do 
not mean that secondary programs should be purely elective, but that they should be 
eminently elastic and that this elasticity, based upon psychological laws, should be 
recognized by the colleges. There is no identity of form, either in mind or matter, in 
the natural or the spiritual, and since power, power to adapt one's self to the sphere for 
which nature designed him, is the end of education, every student should find in the 
college and university the means by which that power may be secured. 

The universal recognition of this oneness of education would bring about harmoni- 
ous relations between the secondary schools and the colleges. A careful study of the 

I Dr. A. F. Nightingale, chairman of this committee, prepared a similar volume, which was published by 
D. Appleton & Co., in 1879. 



8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



requirements of admission in the School Review for June, 1896, seems to indicate a wide 
divergence of opinion, which we believe does not really exist. The discussions of recent 
years, the admirable report of the Committee of Ten, and the agitation it has provoked, 
the deliberations of the various associations formed to bring about unity in diversity, all 
point to a wise and happy solution of this vexed problem. 

The results of the conferences held at Columbia. College are encouraging in the 
extreme {Educational Review, May, 1896). It is the most advanced step in the right 
direction which has yet been taken. 

These conferences took on a local color, but the unanimity of their conclusions 
presages the feasibility of national unity on this same matter. 

The secondary schools are the schools of the people, and the people have demanded, 
and in still more effectual ways will demand, that their courses must be practical, bene- 
ficial, disciplinary. The sciences no longer knock at the doors for admission. They 
have been admitted, and a larger and still larger place will be provided for them. 

Physiography, biology, physics, chemistry, in all their elementary principles, and in 
their relations to man, whose duty and privilege it is to conquer nature and to make it 
subservient to his advancement and happiness, are no longer to remain in the category 
of informational studies, and suffer the opprobrium of being contrasted with the humane 
and the literary as the sole dispensers of intellectual culture. The sciences, as they are 
beginning to be taught in our best schools, add to the wealth of mind as well as to the 
stock of facts, and the colleges must recognize them as full equivalents for other work 
which they have hitherto demanded to the exclusion of science. 

In pleading for uniformity in college-entrance requirements, there are a few vital 
facts which cannot be ignored : First, the triple function of the public high school, viz., 
to equip pupils for the business of life, to give a proper training to those who will teach 
in the common schools, and to prepare for college. Secondly, a majority of our young 
people who go to college come to a decision late in their secondary course. Thirdly, 
every young man or woman who has successfully devoted at least four years to earnest 
study in a well-equipped secondary school should be admitted to any college in the 
country, whether such a pupil has devoted a greater part of his time to Latin, Greek, and 
mathematics, or to Latin, modern languages, and mathematics, or to Latin, mathematics, 
and the sciences, or to any other combination of studies which has developed his power 
and been in harmony with his intellectual aptitudes. To this end, secondary programs 
of study should be thoroly elastic and with varied electives, suited to the talents of the 
individual child ; a college program should be still more elastic and with a larger num- 
ber of electives. Every person will then find opportunities for the development of that 
power which will enable him with confidence to attack the problems of life which he 
wishes to help to solve. 

The public high school can become a link in the golden chain of our American sys- 
tem of education only when the colleges begin where the best high schools leave off ; 
otherwise the gap between the common school and the college must be filled by the 
private schools, patronized by the children of the rich, and the sons and daughters of 
the great middle class must be deprived of the benefits of a higher education because, 
forsooth, they have failed to fulfill some specific requirement of the college they would 
otherwise enter. I have faith, however, that these conflicting requirements will be har- 
monized, their incongruities removed, so that we may in the near future have a unified 
system of education, from the kindergarten to the graduate school of the university, which 
will give to every child, without let or hindrance, the right of way for such an education 
as will best develop the power with which, in a plastic state, he has been endowed by the 
Infinite Architect. 

A conference of the committee with members of the committee of 
co-operation and others interested was held at Buffalo on Tuesday, July 
7, 1896. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 



In the absence of Chairman Nightingale, who spent the summer 
abroad, Mr. W. H. Smiley presided. A committee, consisting of Dr. 
James E. Russell, Dr. Melvil Dewey, and Professor Elmer E. Brown, was 
appointed to draft a plan of work for the general committee for the year 
1896-97. 

This committee presented the following at the conference held on 
Wednesday evening, July 8, Dr. B. A. Hinsdale acting as chairman of 
the meeting : 

PLAN OF WORK FOR 1 896-97 
It is within the province of the committee, according to the resolution passed at 
the Denver meeting, to investigate existing college-entrance requirements and to report 
on ways and means of securing such uniformity in extent and method as will be con- 
ducive to the best interests, both of higher and of secondary education. The first step 
in investigation of existing requirements has been taken ; in our opinion the program of 
the ensuing year should be chiefly as follows : 

1. The committee should invite the active co-operation of associations already 
organized for the study of such problems ; it should appoint representative subcommittees 
of specialists interested in the various subjects ; it should ascertain the views of individual 
institutions — secondary schools, colleges, and universities — all with a view to the 
ultimate determination of what should constitute a normal requirement in each of the 
subjects set for the admission to college. 

2. To this end it is recommended that the requirements be considered in the follow- 
ing groups : English, classical languages, modern languages, history, mathematics, and 
sciences. 

3. Within the several groups special attention should be given to what should con- 
stitute a year's work in each subject (e. g., first-year French ; second-year French, physics, 
chemistry, etc.) ; or, as maybe preferable in some groups, what should constitute the 
"elementary" and what the "advanced " requirements, and, in general, the constitution 
of entire courses of study in the separate subjects. 

4. It is recommended that a schedule of options or equivalents within the various 
groups, or between separate groups, be prepared. 

5. The committee should make special effort to secure a more satisfactory method 
of admission to college. The views of the associations, subcommittees, and institutions 
(above referred to) should be sought as to the best pedagogical means of testing the 
work done in preparation for college. 

6. All partial reports should be submitted to the committee as early as possible, that 
a tentative report may be prepared for discussion at the next annual meeting of the 
National Educational Association. 

7. The Departments of Higher and Secondary Education and of Science should be 
requested to make this subject a special order in their program for the meeting of 1897. 

8. It is evident that the work outlined cannot be done without the expenditure of 
a considerable sum of money. This committee should urge upon the Departments of 
Higher Education, of Secondary Education, and of Science the necessity of petitioning 
the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association for an appropriation, to 
be made at as early a day as practicable, sufficient to complete the work. 

General discussion of the report, as it was read seriatim, followed, and 
it was finally adopted as reported by the committee. At the joint 
meeting of the two departments on the following day it received the 
unanimous approval of the large body of representatives of secondary 
and higher education in attendance. 



lo NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

Professor West, of Princeton College, and Professor Kelsey, of the 
University of Michigan, expressed the opinion that the American Philo- 
logical Association would be willing to co-operate with the joint com^ 
mittee by presenting at a later stage classical programs prepared by the 
association. The members of the committee accepted gratefully and 
unanimously this suggested help, and on motion of the secretary an 
invitation was extended to the Philological Association, by unanimous 
vote of the two departments, to prepare a report on Greek and Latin. 
The invitation was accepted by the Philological Association, which pro- 
ceeded to make an investigation of remarkable thoroness and efficiency. 
The report of its committee (Professor Thomas Day Seymour, of Yale 
University, chairman) is presented in Part II of this report. The co-opera- 
tion of the Science Department of the National Educational Association, 
tendered thru its president, Professor Bessey, was also gladly accepted. 
The reports of several committees appointed by this department also 
appear in Part 11. 

In the autumn of 1896 Chairman Nightingale sent a request to the 
American Historical Association to appoint a committee to prepare a 
report on the scope and place of history in the secondary schools, with 
model courses of study for the same. A committee of seven was 
appointed, with Professor A. C. McLaughlin, of the University of Michi- 
gan, as chairman. Its most excellent report is presented herewith in 
Part II. Professor C. H. Thurber attended the meeting of the eastern 
branch of the Modern Language Association of America at Cleveland in 
December, and the chairman of the committee met with the western branch 
at St. Louis at the same time. As a result, a committee of twelve was 
appointed by this association, with Professor Calvin Thomas, of Columbia 
University, as chairman, to prepare a report on German and French, with 
model courses of study for secondary schools. Its very exhaustive report is 
also to be found in Part II. 

A second preliminary report of the committee was presented at the 
meeting of the National Educational Association at Milwaukee, July, 
1897, which was printed by courtesy and without expense to the com- 
mittee in the June, 1897, number of the School Review. We quote the 
following from the report presented by the chairman at that time : 

The committee, sensible of its responsibilities, and sensitive that no means were 
provided for their proper discharge, has labored, with a zeal fed by its intense interest in 
the problem, to make a commendable advancement along all lines. Every educational 
association in the country dealing in any respect with secondary-school and college work 
has given this question a prominent place upon its program. Educational papers and 
magazines have abounded with articles on this subject. The secular press has not been 
remiss in its instruction to the public, and never in the centuries of our educational 
history has there been a tithe of the interest awakened that now exists in bringing about 
that harmony which ought to, and eventually must, prevail between elementary, second- 
ary, and higher education in this republic of free schools, of free opinions, and of univer- 
sal suffrage. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS II 

There must be the closest affiliation between the secondary schools and the colleges. 
This can be brought about only by the adoption of a plan that shall be consistent with 
what the secondary schools can do, and what the colleges must have. It is not, how- 
ever, a question of compromise or of expediency ; it is rather one of psychology, or, to 
use a rational term, of common sense and justice. All omens point to a successful issue. 
One after another the old idols are broken. The giants that stood in the path and said 
to every student, " Le|: him who enters here " leave all behind but Latin, Greek, and 
mathematics, are growing limp and lifeless. Requirements for admission are being 
leveled up ; wide options are to be allowed ; the element of value in preparation is to be 
a time element; Harvard, Cornell, Vassar, University of Michigan, University of Chi- 
cago, and Leland Stanford, Jr., are unfurling their banners of freedom. There is already 
a path blazed thru the thicket and jungle of conservatism and tradition, and before the 
twentieth century dawns in its glory there will be a broad highway thru which a pupil 
may walk unfettered, amid attractive associations, from the kindergarten to a degree at 
the end of the postgraduate course of the university, and still will the people of the 
future be able to say, " There were giants in those days." ^ 

At a meeting of the committee at the Pfister Hotel it was decided to 
request from the joint departments the privilege of adding four members 
to the committee. The privilege was granted, and the balloting resulted 
in the choice of Professor H. B. Fine, of Princeton University, and Dr. 
Edmund J. James, of the University of Chicago, to represent the Depart- 
ment of Higher Education, and of George B. Alton, inspector of high 
schools, state of Minnesota, and Ray Greene Huling, of the English High 
School, Cambridge, Mass., to represent the secondary schools. These 
gentlemen accepted, and have since acted with the committee. At this 
conference it was also decided to ask the National Educational Associa- 
tion for an appropriation to enable the committee to finish its work, 
which had thus far been prosecuted at individual and private expense. 
A subcommittee was appointed for the purpose, and the directors 
voted to appropriate ^500, provided the funds of the association would 
permit. 

Another year passed, and it was learned only at the meeting at Wash- 
ington, July, 1898, that the money had been voted. During the winter 
the chairman requested the American Mathematical Association to pre- 
pare a report on the subjects in which it was especially interested. The 
request was too late for the general association, but the Chicago branch 
was empowered to appoint a committee to study the matter and to report. 
Professor J. W. A. Young, of the University of Chicago, was chairman. 
He labored with commendable zeal, sent out circulars, called several con- 
ferences, and two or three drafts of a report were prepared, and one, 
which we print in Part H, was presented. 

1 " And, lastly, public sentiment among those who have the schools in charge must devise some way by 
which all grades of schools, from the kindergarten to the college, shall be so correlated that there shall be a 
straight and open pathway from the lowest to the highest — with no hurdles to jump over and no hoops to 
jump through — along which free-acting children may be led by teachers acting freely within the necessary 
limits of relativity," — (George H. Martin, in his Evolution of the Massachusetts Public-School Svstem^ 
D. Appleton & Co. ; p. 276.) 



12 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

Efforts were put forth, in the meantime, to secure the elaborate reports 
which had been promised by the eminent committees of the different 
associations which were co-operating with the national committee, and 
when it seemed probable that all these reports would be ready, the chair- 
man called a conference of the general committee in Chicago for April 
13, 14, and 1 5' of the present year. 

Thru the courtesy of Dr. William R. Harper, who welcomed the com- 
mittee in a brief address, and thru the generous kindness of the Quad- 
rangle Club, every facility in the way of rooms and entertainment was 
provided at the University of Chicago. The first session was held at the 
Haskell Museum, where the chairman presented a general outline of the 
work to be done. All other meetings — and there were three sessions a 
day for three days — were held at the Quadrangle Club. Subcommittees 
were appointed on the several subjects of study, and their reports were 
discussed and amended, or approved and passed. All resolutions were 
presented and debated in general session. To aid the Committee on 
Science and English, Dr. John M. Coulter, head of the department of 
botany. Dr. Alexander Smith, professor of chemistry, of the University 
of Chicago, and Mr. Charles W. French, principal of the Hyde Park High 
* School, were invited to meet with the subcommittees. Their counsels 
were highly appreciated and of great value. Ten of the national com- 
mittee and two of the advisory committee were present at all the sessions. 
Letters were received from the four absentees of the general committee, 
giving special and satisfactory reasons for their forced absence. Excellent 
letters, containing many valuable suggestions, were received from Professor 
Albert Bushnell Hart, Dr. John Tetlow, Dr. Melvil Dewey, Principal W. H. 
Bartholomew, Professor William P. Trent, Professor Edward H. Griffin, 
Dr. James H. Canfield, and Mr. Wilson Farrand. The reports that follow, 
both that of the regularly appointed Committee on College- Entrance 
Requirements and those of the special committees appointed by the emi- 
nent associations organized for the purpose of advancing the interests of 
higher education along special lines, are the result of four years of thought, 
study, and investigation. They contain not only 'the opinions of the 
scores of distinguished educators whose names are appended to the spe- 
cial reports, but they also embody the conclusions of conferences, insti- 
tutes, and conventions, which have zealously studied this question since 
the meeting of the National Educational Association at Denver in July, 
1895. They are submitted, therefore, with confidence that they must in 
a large degree meet with the approval of the better class of colleges and 
secondary schools of the country. 

ENGLISH 

The committee presents first the proposition that the study of the 
English language and its literature is inferior in importance to no study 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 13 

in the curriculum. It offers all, or nearly all, the opportunities for men- 
tal training afforded by the study of any language, and introduces the 
pupil to the literature of his own tongue, which must always be the chief 
source of his own thought, inspirations, ideals, and aesthetic enjoyment, 
and must also be the vehicle of his communication with his fellow-men. 
Hence this study should be placed in a position at least not inferior to 
that allotted other languages. 

The course of study in English should include two elements : the 
study of English literature, and the cultivation of the art of expression ; 
to the end of securing, respectively, sympathetic and comprehensive 
appreciation of the writings of great thinkers, and the power to use lan- 
guage in a clear, logical, convincing, and agreeable manner. Such study, 
for the accomplishment of both of these aims, should include the reading 
of many works of literature carefully selected, the study of the principles 
of composition and literary style, and abundant practice in production, in 
obedience to the principles studied under the inspiration of the pleasur- 
able reading of good books. 

The subjects selected should be in themselves dignified and elevating, 
taken from the higher or spiritual environment of the pupil, as found 
actually in his school work, and from the environment of his common 
life. 

The study of the principles of composition should include the follow- 
ing subjects : a study of words as to their origin and meaning ; a study 
of the structure of the sentence and of the larger units of discourse — in 
other words, concrete logic ; a study of the principles of effective literary 
composition, as illustrated in the various divisions of literature ; and also 
a study of the' aesthetics of literature. * 

These need not in all cases be taken up formally as grammar and 
rhetoric. Usually it is better that they be studied in connection with lit- 
erature and composition ; but they should not be neglected. A pupil 
completing a course in English, or any specific portion of such a course, 
should be able to appreciate literature that falls within the possibilities 
of his comprehension, and to express logically, and in good style, such 
thoughts as he is capable of expressing at all. This should be the test. 

Furthermore, the committee recommends that the two departments, 
literature and composition, be pursued side by side thruout the entire 
secondary-school course, and that they be so related thruout that one 
shall, in so far as possible, supplement and strengthen the other. 

We desire to express approval of the following principles : 

1. That there should be no difference between the regular courses and the college- 
preparatory courses in English in secondary schools ; 

2. That the college requirements in English should be distributed thru the four years. 

In accordance with the above, we recommend the following suggestive 
outline of a course of study in English, the main points of which are in 



14 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

accordance with the paper presented by Mr. W. F. Webster, of Minne- 
apolis, and thoroly discussed at the Washington meeting of the Secondary 
Department of the National Educational Association : 

FIRST YEAR FIRST HALF 

Literature — Narration. 

Narratives in both prose and verse, some brief, some of greater length, selectad 
from such authors as Scott, Poe, Tennyson, Lowell, Whittier, Browning, Stevenson, and 
Kipling, representing various qualities of style, which qualities should be clearly pointed 
out to the pupils. The selections should be well within the comprehension of the pupils. 
The following plan of study is suggested : 

1. Meaning of the author. 

a) Outline of story. 

b) Incidents in the lives of characters. 

c) Central idea and purpose of the story. 

2. Method of the author. 

a) Does the interest center in the incidents or in the characters ? 

b) Is there a climax ? 

c) Do all the parts converge to this point ? (unity). 

d) Are the parts arranged in a sequence ? (coherence). 

e) Is the interest sustained ? 

3. Style of the author. 

It is suggested that here special attention be given to the movement of any selected 
passage (verbs). 

Composition — Narration. To give spontaneity. 

1. Incidents. (It is better that at this stage of study pupils compose tales without regard 

to plot.) 

a) Selection of material (unity). 

b) Arrangement of material (sequence, coherence). 

c) Proportion in treatment (mass, emphasis). 

2. External form of composition. 

Heading, margins, indentations of paragraphs. 

3. Grammar study. 

Review of principles. (Attention should here be called especially to the sentence as 
the unit of thought. Attention should also be given to inflection of pronouns and verbs, 
agreement of verbs and pronouns.) 

Concord. 

Punctuation. 

Capitalization. 

4. Figures of speech, based on likeness. 
Simile. 

Metaphor. 
Personification. 

FIRST YEAR SECOND HALF 

Literature — Description. 
Examples of description. 

Examples illustrative of various styles of descriptive literature, in both prose and 
verse, should be selected from such authors as Hawthorne, Lowell, Gray, Goldsmith, Poe, 
Blackmore, Burroughs, and Kipling. Some of the books should be studied in class, 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 15 

others assigned for home reading. In some cases it is well to study in class portions of a 
work of considerable length and require that the remaining portion be read at home. 

The same general plan of study as that suggested for the first half of the year should 
be followed. 

1. Meaning of the author. 

2. Method of the author. 

a) Does he retain his point of view ? (unity). 

b) Does he arrange details in order ? (coherence). 

c) Are they treated in right proportion ? (emphasis). 

3. Style of the author. 

a) Words that produce pictures. 

b) General words or specific words. 

(It is well here to introduce a somewhat thoro study of words, as to origin and mean- 
ing, and of the analysis of words into their various elements.) 

Composition — Description. 

Aim, accurate expression. Subjects to be individual rather than general. They 
should be such objects as the pupil has seen, or is able to reproduce from imagination, 
concerning which it is possible for him to find adequate expression. 

Treatment. The selection of details should be decided by the purpose of description. 

A point of view should be secured and held (unity). 

Details should be arranged with some plan (coherence). 

Arrangement and proportion of details should effect a purpose (mass, unity). 

Technical subjects — paragraph structure. 

Having secured in the previous half year a clear conception of the sentence and its 
arrangement, the combining of sentences in paragraphs can now be properly considered. 

This consideration should include not merely the construction of paragraphs, but 
such arrangement of the sentences within them as shall secure clearness and proper 
emphasis. 

Words. Continuation of the analysis of words and of the study of their history. 
Selection of words which give pictures (rhetorical figures). Specific words and general 
terms compared. Nouns, adjectives, verbs. A review of etymology regarding them. 

SECOND YEAR FIRST HALF 

Literature — Exposition. Lyrical poetry. 

Attention should be given to the study of those authors who have not merely told 
stories well and described objects well, but have expressed ideas in such a way as to make 
them convincing. Many selections of lyrical poetry also can be properly studied. Poems 
should be selected that are not too difficult of comprehension, that have an easy, flowing 
movement, and that are pleasing because of the freedom of their rhythmical qualities, as 
well as for the the beauty of the thought. The following points may profitably be consid- 
ered, under the headings already indicated : 

1. Meaning of the author. Indicate the main thesis and subordinate propositions, their 
proper dependence and their relative importance (especially for exposition). 

2. Method of the author. 

a) Does he stick to his point ? (unity). 

i>) Does he pass from the known to the unknown ? (coherence). 

c) Does he arrange the material to get the highest effect ? (emphasis). 

3. Sty/e of the author. His use of connectives, conjunctions, relatives, adverbs, and phrases. 
a) How does he obtain clearness ? 

h) Are his figures of speech and comparisons effective ? 



1 6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

Composition — Exposition. To encourage logical thinking and adequate expression. 
Terms. Definitions. 
Propositions. 

1. Clear statement of proposition (key sentence). 

2. Discussion as limited by the above. 

a) What shall be included ? (unity). 

b) What shall be excluded ? (unity). 

c) In what order ? (coherence). 

d) In what proportion ? (emphasis, mass). 

SECOND YEAR — SECOND HALF 

Literature — Exposition {continued). Poetry. 

Suggestions made for the first half year should be here followed. 

Composition — Exposition. 

Paragraph structure. 

Study of paragraphs introduced the preceding year should be here followed with 
much practice. 

A further study of connectives, and methods of transition. 

Clauses. 

Sentences. Periodic, loose, balanced. 

To make pupils think a whole sentence before writing, insist on many periodic sen- 
tences. Compare the effect of long and short sentences. 

Study of argumentation. 

THIRD YEAR FIRST HALF 

Literature. Introduction of character study, as exemplified in the novel. Poetry. 

Novels, representing the different classes of fiction, for study both in school and at 
home. It is best to select novels not too long, and those that have abundance of incident. 

Meaning of author. 

Method of author. 

Is the interest centered in plot or in the characters ? Do the details work toward a 
climax ? (unity). 

Are the parts arranged in the best order ? (coherence). 

Style of author. As exemplified in his power to picture, to phrase, to draw characters, 
to arouse emotions. 

The principles already studied should be continually reviewed as occasion occurs. 
Attention, however, may now be drawn to some of the refinements of composition. Con- 
tinually increasing attention should be given to the best word for the place in every 
instance. Pupils should now be led to express themselves, not only with accuracy, but 
with some degree of elegance. It is well to call attention to the fact that the best authors 
use the simplest language, and that for English-speaking people words of Anglo-Saxon 
origin are commonly best. Care should also be given now to the arrangement of words, 
with the special view to securing force, smoothness, and elegance. Subjects of composi- 
tion should be drawn to a considerable extent from the literature studied. It is also well 
to draw upon the other subjects of the curriculum for suitable topics, particularly history 
and science. Stories, episodes, conversations upon various topics, descriptions of scenes, 
character sketches, are good topics. It is also well that occasionally outlines of composi- 
tions upon the various subjects be prepared by the students. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS I 7 

THIRD YEAR SECOND HALF 

Literature — Drama. 

It is suggested that the literature of this half year be the drama, with special 
reference to Shakespeare. Attention should be given to the grammatical construction, 
especially to the difference between the plot and a narrative poem. In this connection it 
might be well to read some such critical studies of poetry as may be found in the works 
of Matthew Arnold and James Russell Lowell. 

Composition. 

Composition work of this half year may very properly be largely studies of characters 
of the drama, and the critical treatment of the various plays studied, from the student's 
point of view. This last phrase is important ; the student should not merely read the 
plays, but should study them, and should give expression, not to the teacher's nor the 
critic's view, but to his own. 

FOURTH YEAR 

During this year literature should be studied with due attention to the history of its 
development. It is well to select for study some works which will test to the full the 
student's mature power. Pupils should now learn to meet new difficulties, both in 
thought and vocabulary. 

The technical work of this year, to take the place of the grammar and rhetoric sug- 
gested for the earlier years, should be based largely upon the study of the history 
of the English language. 

Composition. 

The composition work of this year should be varied in topic and style. Some 
compositions of considerable length should be required. These should be upon subjects 
that will employ the student's most mature thought. Considerable time should be spent 
in their preparation, and they should be examined and criticised step by step by the 
teacher. At the end of the course in English each student should be required to sub- 
mit a final essay or thesis upon some literary subject, to show to a degree his appreciation 
of the work done, and to illustrate as fully as possible his power of expression. 

The committee recommends that four periods per week for four years 
be allotted to the work in English, and that at least one-half of this 
time be devoted to the department of literature. 

The committee recommends that a suggestive list of books, graded 
and classified, be offered, not less than thirty for each year, from which 
list selections shall be made by the various schools, not less than five 
books of average length, or a total of i,ooo pages, covering both class 
work and home reading, to be required for each school year. 

LIST OF BOOKS 

The following list, as the committee states, is simply suggestive. Prin- 
ciples and preferences, local and literary, will always govern in the choice 
of books which teachers will urge their pupils to read and which they will 
prefer for class study. The main purpose is to inculcate a taste for the 
best reading in the young people of today, to help them to form the read- 
ing habit, and to guide them into the way of a critical study of authors. 
We believe there should be in our secondary schools, and in the require- 
ments for college in English, no hard and fast rule as to just what books 



i8 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



should be read or studied. Uniformity may be excellent, but equivalents 
should be accepted. The list below contains all that the joint conference 
recommends both for general reading and for careful study. Many more are 
given. They are graded and may be readily classified. They are sub- 
mitted, not as the best list, for there is no such, but as a collection of 
good books worthy to be read, worthy to be studied, and among which 
we believe a sufficient number may be found which will interest, instruct, 
and entertain the pupils of every secondary school. 



FIRST YEAR 

I Snow Bound 

2* Tales of Shakespeare - 

3 Wonder Book 

4 Tanglewood Tales 
5* Jungle Book, No. I 
6* Jungle Book, No. 2 - 

7 Beity Alden - 

8 Sharp Eyes 
9* Autobiography of Franklin ■ 

1 0* Tom Brown at Rugby 

1 1 Story of a Bad Boy 

12* Nicholas Nickleby - 

13 Two Years before the Mast - 



- Whittier 
Lamb 

Hawthorne 

- Hawthorne 

- Kipling 
Kipling 

- Austen 

- Burroughs 
Franklin 

Hughes 
Aldrich 
Dickens 
Dana 
Webster 

15* Sketch Book - - - Irving 

16* Washington's Rules of Conduct, Fare- 
well Address, and Lincoln's Inaugu- 
ral and Gettysburg Speech 



17* Man Without a Country 

1 8 Hans Brinker - 

1 9 Ivanhoe'^ 

20* Quentin Durward 



2 1 

22 

23 

24 

25* 

26 

27* 

28 

29 

30 



Tales of a Wayside Inn - 
The Story of the Indian 
Tales of New England - 
Being a Boy 
Merchant of Venice^ 
The Choir Invisible - 
Life of Washington 
Cuore 
Back of the North Wind 



- Hale 
Dodge 

- Scott 
- Scott 

Longfellow 

Grinnell 

- Jewett 

Warner 

Shakespeare 

- Allen 

Irving-Fiske 

- De Amicis 

McDonald 



Macaulay's or Chesterfield's Letters 



SECOND YEAR 

I Vision of Sir Launfal^ - Lowell 
2* Lady of the Lake - - - Scott 
3* Marniion ----- Scott 



Lyrics and Sonnets ( " Cry of the Chil- 
dren " ) - - Mrs. Browning 
The Lake Poets, Wordsworth, Coleridge, 

Southey 
Julius CcBsar^ - - Shakespeare 
Translations from the Iliad (Books I, 



VT, XXII, XXIV) ^ 
8 Last of the Mohicans ^ - 
9* Tales of a Traveller - 

10 The War of Independence 

1 1 Young Folk's Plutarch - 
12* Apology of Socrates 

1 3 Back Log Studies 

14 Brave Little Holland - 

15 Julius CcBsar - 

16 Little People of Asia 



7* Bulfinch's Mythology 



- Pope 
- Cooper 

- Irving 
Fiske 

Kaufmann 
Plato 
Warner 
Griffis 
Froude 
Olive T. Miller 
- Hale 
Hawthorne 
Muloch 
Scott 
Dickens 
Dr. John Brown 



18* Twice Told Tales 
19 John Halifax - 
20* Kenilworth 

2 1 * Tale of Two Cities - 

22 Rab and his Friends 

23 The Private Life of the Romans 

Preston and Dodge 

24 Hero Tales from American History 

Roosevelt and Lodge 

25 Girls and Women - - Chester 

26 Shakespeare the Boy - - Rolfe 

27 Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain 

28 Rudder Grange Stories - Stockton 

29 The Hoosier Schoolmaster Eggleston 

30 Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail 

Roosevelt 

THIRD YEAR 

I* Richard II - - Shakespeare 
2* Twelfth Night - - Shakespeare 
3 Macbeth'"- - - Shakespeare 
4* Legends of the Alhambra - Irving 



*In the list of home reading books suggested by the joint conference on English, April, 1899. 
I College requirements for general reading and composition work, as recommended by the joint confer- 
ence on English. 

^College requirements for careful study, as recommended by the joint conference on English. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 



19 



5 Silas Marner^ . - - . Eliot 

6 Critical Essays 

Lowell and Matthew Arnold 

7 Lectures and Speeches, y<!t.xs.^€i\ Phillips 

8 Wulfthe Saxon - G. A. Henley 

9 Political Ideas - . - Fiske 

10 The Young Carthaginian Henley 

1 1 The Roman and the Teuton - Kingsley 

12 Minor Poems'^ - - Milton 

13 Vicar of Wakefield'^ - Goldsmith 



14* Essay on Friendshi 
16 



Emerson 
Kidnapped - - - Stevenson 
Our Old Home- - - Hawthorne 

17 Prophet of Great Smoky Mountain 

Craddock 

18 Dombey and Son-. - - Dickens 

19 John Brent - - - Winthrop 
20* Lorna Doone - - Blackmore 
21 Paradise Lost"- (Books I, H) Milton 
22* Westward Ho! - - - Kingsley 
23* Prue and I - - - Curtis 



24* The Newcomes- 



Thackeray 



25* Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, Holmes 
26 Uarda Ebers 

27* Lord Clive . . . Macaulay 

28 Ben Hur - - - Wallace 

29 Palamon and Arcite * - Dry den 

30 Roman Life in the Days of Cicero 

Church 

FOURTH YEAR 

I* Hamlet- - - Shakespeare 

2 Sir Roger de Coverley Papers in the Speo - 

tator"^ .... Addison 



3 


Critical Period of American History 




Fiske 


4 


American Commonwealth (abridged) 




Bryce 


.5 


Essay on Burns^ (and Poems), Carlyle 


6 


Nineteenth Century - Mackenzie 


7 


Life of Charlotte Bronte - Gaskell 


8 


Abraham Lincoln - - Schurz 


9 


How the Other Half Lives - Reis 


ID 


Judith Shakespeare - - Black 


II 


Egyptian Princess - - Ebers 


12 


The Destiny cf Man - - Fiske 


13 


Warren Hastings - - Macaulay 


14* 


Henry Esmond - - Thackeray 


15 


Princess ^ - - - - Tennyson 


16* 


Pride and Prejudice - - Austen 


17* 


Marble Faun - - Hawthorne 


1%^ David Copperfield - - Dickens 


19 


Les Miserables - - . Hugo 


20 


Rime of the Ancient Mariner ^ 




Coleridge 


21 


Shakespeare's England - - Winter 


22* 


Sesame and Lilies - - Ruskin 


23 


On Style (Part I) - - Spencer 


24 


Speech on Conciliation with America ' 




Burke 


25* 


Conduct of Life - - Emerson 


26 


Milton and Addison ^ - Macaulay 


27* 


■ Walden - - - . Thoreau 


28 


My Summer in a Garden - Warner 


29* 


■ Essay on Manners - Emerson 


30* 


Romola - . ■ - - - - Eliot 



FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES 

The committee recommends that the courses of study prepared by the 
committees of the American Philological Association and of the Modern 
Language Association of America, as printed in Part II, be adopted, with 
the suggestion that the word "selections" be placed after " Sallust's Cali- 
line'" in the tables on pp. 73, 74. 



HISTORY. CIVICS, AND ECONOMICS 
The committee recommends that our colleges and universities should 
accept as a unit for admission a year's work in economics, including under 
this head a course in elementary political economy, supplemented by ade- 
quate instruction in commercial geography and industrial history. It 

* In the list of home reading books suggested by the joint conference on English, April, 1899. 

1 College requirements for general reading and composition work, as recommended by the joint confer- 
ence on English. 

2 College requirements for careful study, as recornmended by the joint conference on English. 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



approves the courses of history recommended by the committee of the 
American Historical Association, with the following proviso, namely : 
that it is highly desirable that one year of United States history and 
civil government should be furnished by the secondary schools, and be 
accepted as a requirement for admission by all colleges and universities. 
It will be noted in the report of the American Historical Association that 
it is possible to omit the course in United States history. The committee 
desires to reaffirm *' the principles of college requirements " as given in 
the report of the committee of the American Historical Association, if 
it understands correctly the statement in regard thereto. In order to 
avoid misapprehension, however, the committee feels that it is important 
to make its understanding of these principles explicit. 

As to the meaning of the first principle as formulated there appears 
no uncertainty, and we approve of it heartily, viz. : 

1. That the fundamental scope and purpose of the secondary schools should be 
regarded. 

But the formulation of the second principle, especially when taken in 
connection with a note thereto, seems open to misconstruction. The 
principle is stated as follows : 

2. That such elasticity be allowed that schools may fit for college and adapt them- 
selves to local environments and local needs. 

The note is as follows : 

It does not seem wise, etc. (p. 127). 

The aim of the Committee on College-Entrance Requirements is to 
set forth such a series of interchangeable units of substantially the same 
value as will meet with acceptance everywhere. Local conditions and 
traditions may give rise to differing groups of college-entrance require- 
ments, but within these groups the several units should have the same 
value. 

That is to say, one unit of history taught in one place should equal 
one unit of history taught in another place, even tho the subject- 
matter of the instruction varies. 

Such an arrangement will tend to secure greater flexibility of the cur- 
riculum, and, at the same time, to preserve all legitimate claims of varia- 
tion growing out of differences of environment, as well as to break down 
such claims as are not real. 

MATHEMATICS 

The committee begs to submit the following report on mathematics. 
It will be found that our recommendations are in the main in agreement 
with those of the mathematical conference of the Committee of Ten and 
with those contained in the appended report of the committee appointed 
by the Chicago Section of the American Mathematical Society. These 
reports contain many suggestions relative to the teaching of naatheoiaticg 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 21 

in which we heartily concur, but which we have not thought it necessary 
to repeat, 

I. We recommend that the course in arithmetic required of all stu- 
dents be limited, roughly speaking, to the following topics : the four fun- 
damental operations for integers, and common and decimal fractions ; the 
most important weights and measures ; percentage and its application to 
simple interest; and that it be completed in the sixth grade. An admi- 
rable statement of the reasons for this recommendation is to be found in 
the report of the mathematical conference of the Committee of Ten, and 
they need not be repeated here. The recommendation involves the omis- 
sion of commercial arithmetic from the prescribed course in mathematics. 
If it be deemed necessary, an elective course in this subject may be offered 
at some convenient time during the high-school period, and in connection 
with it a course in bookkeeping. 

We concur with both committees in urging that the instruction in 
arithmetic be enlivened by numerous applications to problems which are 
of immediate interest to the pupil, or can be made so by simple explana- 
tions — notably problems of elementary mensuration and physics. 

The most important practical end to be secured by the study of 
arithmetic is skill in accurate reckoning with integers and common and 
decimal fractions. That the pupil may not lose this skill, after having 
once acquired it, we deem it indispensable that he be given> frequent prac- 
tice in numerical reckoning thruout the school course. Algebra, metri- 
cal geometry, and the physical sciences afford abundant opportunities. 

II. We suggest the following arrangement of the course in mathemat- 
ics from the seventh to the twelfth grades inclusive, assuming the length 
of the recitation period to be at least forty-five minutes : 

Seventh grade — Concrete geometry and introductory algebra - 4 periods 

Eighth grade — Introductory demonstrative geometry and algebra - 4 " 

Ninth and tenth grades — Algebra and plane geometry - - 4 " 

Eleventh grade — Solid geometry and plane trigonometry - - 4 '" 

Twelfth grade — Advanced algebra and mathematical reviews - 4 " 

~ I. The algebra of the seventh and eighth grades should, at the outset, 
be mere literal arithmetic. But we are of the opinion that, by limiting the 
working material to very simple polynomials and "fractional expressions, 
and to equations of the first degree with numerical coefficients, the four 
fundamental operations for rational algebraic expressions, simple factor- 
ing, and the solution of equations of the first degree in one and two 
unknown quantities may be taught effectively in the course of these two 
grades. 

Young students enjoy reckoning, and elementary algebraic reckoning 
will interest them far more than the complexities of commercial arithme- 
tic. The principles of the subject must, of course, be presented concretely, 
and unnecessary generalizations should be carefully avoided. Simple 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



problems which can be solved by aid of equations of the first degree should 
be introduced as early as possible. The sooner the pupil appreciates the 
power of algebraic methods, the sooner will the subject attract him. 

2. Concrete geometry may be taught with advantage earlier than the 
seventh grade. But even in that case we deem it wise to devote half the 
time given to mathematics in the seventh grade to this subject. 

3. The amount of demonstrative geometry which should be given in 
the eighth grade will depend somewhat upon the knowledge of concrete 
geometry which the pupil has by that time acquired. In any event, we 
should question the wisdom of undertaking any systematic study of a text- 
book of demonstrative geometry in this grade. An important object of 
the instruction should be to awaken an interest in the demonstrative pro- 
cess, and that may be best accomplished by confining the pupil's atten- 
tion to the propositions which his concrete work has taught him to appre- 
ciate, and which admit of easy demonstration. The theorems which 
relate to the congruence of triangles, parallel lines, the angle- sum of the 
triangle, parallelograms, aud some of the simpler and more useful prop- 
erties of the circle, and many of the problems of construction, belong to 
this category ; the propositions which necessitate the consideration of 
incommensurables do not. 

4. We recommend that the time allotted to mathematics in the ninth 
and tenth grades be divided equally between algebra and plane geometry ; 
and that the course in algebra include: («) a more systematic and com- 
prehensive study of the topics treated in the introductory course of the 
seventh and eighth grades, with a thoro drill in factoring, highest com- 
mon factor, least common multiple, and complex fractions ; (^) radicals 
and fractional exponents, and quadratic equations in one and two unknown 
quantities; (<;) ratio and proportion, the progressions, the elementary 
treatment of permutations and combinations, the binomial theorem for 
positive integral exponents, and the use of logarithms. 

There is time enough in this course for the topics (<r), and they seem 
to us to belong here rather than in the advanced algebra of the twelfth 
grade, because of their elementary character and general interest. The 
acquisition, thus early, of a practical acquaintance with logarithms in par- 
ticular would be of great advantage to the pupil in his work in metrical 
geometry and physical science. The slight theoretical knowledge of loga- 
rithms which it requires is easily within his reach ; for the theorems 
relating to the logarithm of a product, a quotient, a power, and a root are 
mere restatements of theorems regarding exponents with which he is 
already familiar, and it is certain to interest him, for it appeals, as few 
other topics in algebra can, to the utilitarian instinct which is so strong in 
young students. 

5. By ''advanced algebra" we mean the remaining topics which are 
to be found in an ordinary text-book of "college algebra," viz., the 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 23 

elementary treatment of infinite series, undetermined coefficients, the 
binomial theorem for fractional and negative exponents, the theory of 
logarithms, determinants, and the elements of the theory of equations. 

III. In solid geometry, plane trigonometry, and advanced algebra the 
schools should insist upon the same amount of work and aim at the same 
standard of scholarship as the best American colleges require in their 
courses in these subjects. 

IV. When a student who is preparing for college does not intend to 
offer advanced algebra, he should defer some or all of the mathematics of 
the eleventh grade until the last year of his school course, or be given 
opportunity for mathematical reviews in that year. 

V. We recommend that the several mathematical subjects count toward 
satisfying the requirements for admission to college, as follows : 

[a) Elementary algebra, as defined in II, 4 - - - - \%. units 

{b) Advanced algebra - - ^ unit 

{c) Plane geometry -i " 

{d) Solid geometry /^ " 

(<») Plane trigonometry /^" 

SCIENCES 

We recommend that "nature study" of the kind described in an 
appen'tied report, Part II, be made an integral part of the school work 
preceding the high-school period. 

We recommend the following arrangement of courses in natural and 
physical science in the high-school period itself : 

First year Physical geography 

Second year - - Biology: botany and zoology, or botany, or zoology 

Third year Physics 

Fourth year - - Chemistry 

and that the time allowance for each of these courses be at least four 
periods a week thruout the year. 

This allowance seems necessary to entitle these subjects to recognition 
(as one unit each) in a list of college-entrance requirements. 

So far as the reports in our possession have enabled us to do so, we 
have indicated in some detail what the character of these courses in sci- 
ence should be. Unfortunately, this has been impossible in the case of 
physics and zoology,^ and we recommend that the Committee on Physics 
and Zoology appointed by the Natural Science Section of the National 
Educational Association be again requested to supply detailed descrip- 
tions of suitable school courses in these sciences. 

The committee also makes the following general recommendations : 
In our opinion it is important that the last two grades that now precede 
the high-school course should be incorporated in it, and, wherever 

iThe report on zoology is inserted in Part H, but came too Jate for inspection by the committee. 



24 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

practicable, the instruction in those two grades should be given under 
the supervision of the high-school teacher. 

This recommendation really means a six-years' high-school course of 
study, and therefore that the qualifications of the teachers of the seventh 
and eighth grades shall not be inferior to those of the teachers in the 
remaining high-school grades. 

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 

The committee approves the report of the Subcommittee on Physi- 
cal Geography appointed under the auspices of the National Educational 
Association, appended to this report; and it accordingly recommends : 

1. That this committee adopt the definition of physical geography 
given in the report of the Subcommittee on Physical Geography 
appended to this report, namely, "the physical environment of man;" 
and that its principal themes are, the earth as a globe, the atmosphere, 
the ocean, and the lands, all appropriately limited in scope and difficulty 
by the time at the disposal of the course and the capacity of high-school 
pupils, and all taught "with the motive and the special point of view 
defined above ;" and that "the distribution of organisms should not be 
taught with reference to zoological and botanical classifications, but in 
exposition of the organic environment of man, and as itself controlled 
by physiographic and other influences." 

2. That in public high schools and other secondary schools physical 
geography be taught in a course occupying not less than four periods a 
week during one school year; and that this course should be placed in 
the ninth grade (first high-school year, in the present organization of most 
public schools). 

3. That the course in physical geography should include a large 
amount of field and laboratory work; and lectures, discussions, and text- 
book study should, so far as practicable, be related to such work. Note- 
books should not be an end in themselves ; they should be kept in such 
a way as to emphasize the spirit and method of scientific work. 

4. That the course in physical geography outlined in the foregoing 
propositions, when satisfactorily completed, count as one unit toward 
satisfying the requirements for admission to college. 

BIOLOGY 

The course in biology in the second year of the school course may 
consist either of a half year of botany and a half year of zoology, or of 
a whole year in either science. 

BOTANY 

I. That in public high schools and in preparatory schools botany be 
taught in a course occupying not less than one-half year, and preferably 
one year, with at least four exercises a week. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 25 

2. That this course in botany include a large amount of individual 
laboratory work, supplemented by as much field work as possible, done 
by the pupil under the careful direction of a competent instructor, and 
recorded by the pupil in the form of careful drawings and descriptions 
in a permanent notebook. 

3. That such laboratory work, including the keeping of the notebook, 
occupy approximately one-half of the whole botany assignment, double 
periods of time being given to each laboratory exercise. 

4. That the course also include instruction by text-book, informal 
lectures, and frequent quizzes, elucidating and enforcing the laboratory 
work, or dealing with matter not touched upon in that work, to the end 
that the pupil may gain a comprehensive and connected view of biologi- 
cal principles, as exemplified by plants, rather than merely a knowledge 
of a few disconnected facts. 

5. That a pupil who has successfully completed such a course in 
botany as that here described may offer it for one-half or one unit of 
work in satisfaction of the requirements for admission to college. 

6. That for entering students who have thus satisfied a definite require- 
ment in botany, and who continue the subject in college, there be provided 
a suitable sequel to the school course in continuation of the study ; such 
students being in no case placed in the same class with beginners. 

7. The standpoint of the entire course should be that of plants as 
living things and at work, details of the structure being entirely sub- 
ordinated. Observation should be directed to the most obvious facts, 
those which form a fitting background for subsequent study, and which 
easily enter into the subsequent experience of those who do not study 
further. Professional terminology and difficult and expensive apparatus 
should be avoided as much as possible. Constant and accurate drawing 
should be insisted upon as the only means of securing and recording 
definite observation. Great care should be taken not to overload the 
student with details or to demand too exhaustive a study of single forms. 
Clearness and variety are essentials in. such work. 

ZOOLOGY 
The committee presents no special report on zoology, but refers to 
the report on this subject made by the committee appointed by the 
Department of Science. This report is printed in Part II, and will be 
found to be in essential harmony with the report on botany. 

PHYSICS 

Your committee suggests that an effective working basis for a 
secondary-school course in physics would be attained by planning such a 
course substantially in accordance with the following propositions : 

I. That in public high schools and schools preparatory for college 
physics be taught in a course occupying not less than one year of daily 



26 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

exercises, more than this amount of time to be taken for the work if it is 
begun earlier than the next to the last year of the school course. 

2. That this course of physics include a large amount of laboratory 
work, mainly quantitative, done by the pupils under the careful direction 
of a competent instructor and recorded by the pupil in a notebook. 

3. That such laboratory work, including the keeping of a notebook and 
the working out of results from laboratory observations, occupy approxi- 
mately one-half of the whole time given to physics by the pupil. 

4. That the course also include instruction by text-book and lecture, 
with qualitative experiments by the instructor, elucidating and enforcing 
the laboratory work, or dealing with matters not touched upon in that 
work, to the end that the pupil may gain not merely empirical 
knowledge, but, so far as this may be practicable, a comprehensive and 
connected view of the most important facts and laws in elementary 
physics. 

5. That college-admission requirements be so framed that a pupil who 
has successfully followed out such a course of physics as that here 
described may offer it toward satisfying such requirements. 

CHEMISTRY 

Your committee approves the report of the majority of the Com- 
mittee on Chemistry of the Natural Science Department of the National 
Educational Association, appended to this report, and it accordingly 
recommends : 

1. That in the public high schools and in preparatory schools chemistry 
be taught in a course occupying not less than an assignment of four 
exercises a week for a year ; more than this amount of time to be taken 
for the work if it is begun earlier than the third year of the school 
course. 

2. That this course in chemistry include a large amount of individual 
laboratory work, including some quantitative exercises, done by the pupil 
under the careful direction of a competent instructor and recorded by the 
pupil in a notebook. 

3. That this laboratory work, including the keeping of the note- 
book and the working out of the results from laboratory observations, 
occupy approximately one-half of the whole chemistry assignment ; 
double periods of time being given to each laboratory exercise. 

4. That the course also include instruction by text-book, demonstra- 
tion, with qualitative and quantitative experiments by the instructor, and 
frequent quizzes, elucidating and enforcing the laboratory work, or deal- 
ing with matters not touched upon in that work, to the end that the pupil 
may gain, not merely empirical knowledge, but, so far as this may be 
practicable, a comprehensive and connected view of the most important 
facts and principles in elementary chemistry. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 27 

5. That a pupil who has successfully followed out such a course of 
chemistry as that here described may offer it for one unit of work in 
satisfaction of the requirements for admission to college. 

6. The subject-matter should include the chemistry of both metals and 
non-metals. More detailed study should be confined to a restricted list 
of elements and compounds — say twelve of each — other substances 
being drawn upon for broadening the course, when required for illustra- 
tion of principles or for classifying facts. 

Attention should be given to the atmosphere, manufacturing pro- 
cesses, and familiar substances. 

The treatment. — The selection should be rational, such facts being 
preferred as can be classified or as lead most directly to principles. 

The theoretical matter, including the theory of solutions, equilibrium, 
etc., should include all that can help in co-ordinating and elucidating the 
facts. 

The presentation should be inductive, as far as possible. The prin- 
ciples and theories should not be stated as dogmas, but should follow the 
facts and supply the explanation for which a need has already been felt. 

Symbols and equations should not be introduced until after quantita- 
tive experiments, and then in the character of abbreviated expressions of 
the results of quantitative work. Such experiments should, therefore, 
appear fairly early in the course. 

Formal qualitative analysis should not form a part of a one-year course. 

The laboratory work must be intelligent, and every effort must be 
made to avoid the mechanical tendency to which it is liable. 

RESOLUTIONS 

The following resolutions adopted by the committee serve to put in 
concrete form the leading principles that guided the committee itself in 
its consideration of the special reports, and which in its judgment are to 
be considered as first principles in the adjustment of relations between 
secondary and higher schools. These resolutions, embodying such prin- 
ciples, are what the committee offers in lieu of any ideal program or 
curriculum. The resolutions that follow are to be considered as cover- 
ing, not every principle that the committee might wish to see recognized, 
but only those which could be discussed and agreed to in the limited 
time at the committee's disposal. 

I. Resolved, That the principle of election be recognized in secondary schools. 

In this resolution the committee merely indorses a practice already 
very common in secondary schools. The tendency toward wide option 
in college-entrance requirements is too obvious to be ignored. The 
student is no longer limited to a single group of prescribed subjects, which 
alone secure admission to college study. Not only are many different 
courses offered by most colleges, but there is increasing latitude of choice 



28 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

in entrance requirements for each of these courses, and it seems probable 
that this latitude will continue to increase. The committee would agree, 
for instance, where one year of history is required, that the particular 
subject in history should not be specified, but that either one of the four 
typical year's courses recommended by the historical committee should 
be accepted. In modern languages an option between French and Ger- 
man now generally exists. In science, while the disposition is now to 
make physics a required subject where only one science subject is offered, 
yet the committee indorses the tendency to allow election among the other 
sciences, and, aside from physics, to specify the requirement by amount 
rather than by subject. At the same time free and unrestricted election 
is not suggested, but, on the contrary, an election made after the most 
careful consideration of the matter by the pupil, the teacher, and, if pos- 
sible, the parents. The administration of such an elective system makes 
extensive demands upon the insight, tact, and time of the principal, who 
will, in most cases, be the adviser from the teacher's standpoint. The 
work of the principal under a properly administered elective system must 
inevitably be greatly increased by much personal consultation with students 
and study of the nature and capacity of individual students. The admin- 
istration of the secondary school at present makes large demands upon 
the principal along lines that were practically unknown to his work but a 
short time ago. The principals, the committee believes, are ready to 
accept these new duties, and to discharge them with fidelity and skill, but 
it ought to be recognized that in order to do so they must be relieved of 
mere routine functions. The personal direction of individual students is 
the most delicate and responsible part of the principal's work, requiring 
the highest intellectual and moral qualities. It is the duty of school 
boards to see to it that principals possessing these qualities should be 
relieved of so much of the drudgery of administration as will give them 
opportunity to perform properly this highest work. 

II. Resolved, That the requirements for admission to technical schools should be as 
extended and thoro as the requirements for admission to college. 

If Students are admitted to technical schools with lower entrance 
requirements than those set by the colleges and universities, three con- 
sequences follow: (i) that the students enter on the technical studies at 
an earlier age ; (2) that they have less general culture than is provided by 
a high-school course ; (3) that they leave the high school before the com- 
pletion of that course. It seems to the committee that the foundation 
of general culture provided by the full high-school course is none too 
much for students whose after-studies are to be almost exclusively tech- 
nical, and yet who, in their professional careers, will be called upon to 
fill positions where not only technical knowledge, but also general educa- 
tion, and especially the ability to write with ease and precision, will be 
important elements in their success. Nor does it seem to the committee 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 29 

desirable that students should be admitted to technical studies at an 
earlier age than that at which they are admitted to the studies of the 
college course. Technical training is essentially professional training. 
If a student is able to enter a technical school a year earlier than he 
can enter a college, and complete his technical studies in four years, 
he is ready to enter on his professional work at a date three years 
beyond the time when he would have left the secondary school after com- 
pleting its full course. The student who chooses the profession of law 
or medicine, for example, who seeks the best preparation for his career, 
completes the high-school course, adds to it a four-years' course in col- 
lege, and to that at least a three-years' course of professional study. 
He, therefore, enters upon his professional work with six years' more 
training than the technical student has. There seems to be no valid 
reason for this very great difference between the best preparation for the 
so-called learned professions and corresponding preparation for the tech- 
nical professions. 

The difficulties of the secondary schools in fitting students for college 
are now, and have in the past been, very great, on account of the different 
specifications from institutions which require theoretically the same 
amount of preparation. The technical school introduces an additional 
complication into the problem, and one of very serious import, in that its 
requirement is not only different in amount from that of the colleges, 
but also different as to specification. The tendency of this requirement 
is to develop a special class of schools, such as separate manual-training 
schools and elementary technological schools, whose function is to pre- 
pare students for the higher technical schools. This differentiation, how- 
ever, does not seem to be in accord with the fundamental principles and 
ideals of the American educational system. Such a differentiation in 
secondary schools necessarily limits the field of their usefulness to those 
students who can reach the specialized institution. Such specialized 
institutions are apt to be remote and difficult of access, whereas the high 
school is almost everywhere accessible. 

The condition to be desired is that in which a four-years' high-school 
course shall prepare the student for advanced study along the lines of his 
choice, whether literary or technical. It is believed by the committee 
that it is the general purpose of the technical schools to advance their 
requirements as rapidly as possible to meet the standard outlined above. 
There can be no question that the lower and differing requirements for 
technical schools are becoming a disturbing factor of considerable impor- 
tance in secondary-school work ; nor is it doubtful that this factor would 
be removed if the requirements for admission both for colleges and for 
technical schools were made substantially equivalent. It is, of course, not 
suggested that they should be identical in subject ; nowhere does the com- 
mittee assume that such identity of requirement is desirable. 



3© NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

III. Resolved, That the teachers in the secondary schools should be college graduates, 
or have the equivalent of a college education. 

The time is past when a superficial knowledge of a variety of subjects, 
coupled with a knack for giving instruction and some administrative 
ability, can be considered sufficient qualifications for teaching in our high 
schools. In many departments of study work is now being done in 
these schools as advanced as that done in the first year of the college 
course. And there is no better reason in the school than in the college 
for intrusting this work to the care of teachers who lack adequate special 
training for it. 

Of course, it is not proposed that able teachers already connected 
with our schools should be displaced because of the lack of a college edu- 
cation, nor implied that young men fresh from our universities are qualified 
for the administrative responsibilities of the high-school principal. The 
most responsible positions in high-school work will naturally be intrusted 
to those alone who have been tested in less responsible positions — in the 
departmental work of the school. Our proposition is mainly concerned 
with the appointment of teachers to do this departmental work. 

Our colleges and universities are now turning out each year numbers 
of young men and women of liberal training who are eager to teach 
subjects which they have been pursuing with enthusiastic devotion and 
distinguished success. Many of them have personal qualities which 
should fit them admirably for teaching. Surely, it is reasonable to urge 
that the best teachers for our high schools may be chosen from among 
them. Not only have they the requisite special knowledge, but they have 
given evidence that they possess the love of learning, lacking which the 
teacher is likely sooner or later to lose enthusiasm for his work and 
become a drudge. 

Fortunately, the policy of recruiting the high-school force from col- 
lege graduates already prevails in many of our great cities, and there is 
little doubt that the practice will soon become general. It will react 
most happily on the higher education of our people by enlarging the 
field of work open to college men and women, and will be a potent influ- 
ence in elevating our secondary schools to a position as dignified as that 
now held by the secondary schools of France and Germany. 

IV. Resolved, That we favor a unified six-year high-school course of study beginning 
with the seventh grade. 

The most necessary and far-reaching reforms in secondary education 
must begin in the seventh and eighth grades of our schools. Educators 
agree that these grades must be enriched by eliminating non-essentials 
and adding new subjects formerly taught only in the high school. These 
reforms require the highest pedagogic knowledge and the most efficient 
supervision. In our opinion these problems can be solved most quickly 
and surely by making the seventh and eighth grades parts of the high 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 31 

school, under the immediate direction of the high-school principal. 
Recent attempts to teach Latin and German in these grades have not 
met with the success to which they are entitled, on account of the lack 
of qualified teachers and competent supervision. The improvements in 
the mathematical schedules in the grades have not been given a chance to 
show their value, because the teachers have lacked the technical training 
and the breadth of view absolutely essential to good teaching in the intro- 
ductory courses of algebra and geometry. Science study is now acknowl- 
edged to have a place in the grades, yet slow progress has been made in 
producing educational results, largely because the grade teacher has been 
poorly prepared to leach the subject, and the leading scientists of the 
country, in their efforts to circumvent this obstacle, have failed to agree 
on a suitable course of study for the grades. 

The proper adjustment of these studies in a unified high-school 
course would add much to the effectiveness and solidarity of secondary 
education. The seventh grade, rather than the ninth, is the natural turn- 
ing-point in the pupil's life, as the age of adolescence demands new 
methods and wiser direction. Six elementary grades and six high-school, 
or secondary, grades form symmetrial units. The transition from the 
elementary to the secondary period may be made natural and easy by 
changing gradually from the one-teacher regimen to the system of 
special teachers, thus avoiding the violent shock now commonly felt on 
entering the high school. The seventh-grade pupils, if thought neces- 
sary, could still be taught and given individual attention by one teacher 
in all but one or two subjects which require the services of specialists. 
The personality of the teacher and her intelligent direction of the indi- 
vidual student should be insisted on and made more effective than at 
present. Under the system proposed an inefficient teacher in the 
seventh or eighth grade would do less harm in blasting bright intellects 
and in turning able students away from higher study. The inspiration 
afforded by a well-equipped high-school principal and by a special 
teacher in language, science, or mathematics would do much to retain 
desirable students in the high school, thus raising the educational stand- 
ard of American citizenship. Statistics show that the number of stu- 
dents leaving school at the end of the sixth grade is comparatively small, 
while the number is very large at the end of the eighth grade. By the 
proposed change, the students in the seventh and eighth grades would 
gradually gain the inspiration of the high-school life, and the desire to 
go farther in the languages and sciences which they have already begun 
under favorable conditions. The result would doubtless be a more 
closely articulated system, with a larger percentage of high-school 
graduates. 

From an administrative point of view, the six high-school grades 
should eventually be in one building. As far as statistics are accessible 



3^ NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

on this point, the experiment of placing these grades in the high-school 
building has been successful, resulting in better scholarship and a greater 
percentage in the number of students entering the ninth grade. The 
gradual change to this system would probably lead to the establishment 
of a larger number of less expensive high schools, thus placing the 
"people's college" nearer their homes without additional expense to the 
taxpayer, but with a saving in money and strength to students attend- 
ing the high school. 

V. Resolved, That in the interpretation of the recommendations of this committee 
concerning the subjects to be included in the secondary-school program and the require- 
ments for admission to college, for which credit should be given, it is distinctly understood 
that all secondary schools will not offer opportunities for the pursuit of all these subjects, 
and that the colleges will select those only which they deem wise and appropriate. 

The very large secondary schools containing six hundred or more 
pupils are, perhaps, the only ones which can offer all the studies which the 
committee enumerates as legitimately belonging to a four-years' secondary 
program. No pupils in these schools can pursue them all, for no study 
should occupy less than one year, and no pupil should carry more than 
four regular studies which occur four periods a week. The larger the 
school, the more elective can be the curriculum, without any considerable 
extra expense. The smaller schools must content themselves with more 
rigid programs, but the welfare of the individual pupil should be the first 
consideration, consistent with the limitations of public funds. Every 
secondary school worthy the name can offer one, and in most cases two, 
foreign languages, two years at least of mathematics beyond arithmetic, 
one or two sciences, one or two years of history, of which one should 
always be American history with civics, and a full course in English. 
More languages, more sciences, more mathematics should be added as 
numbers and funds warrant. The colleges should be very explicit in 
regard to constants, and equally so in regard to electives and equivalents, 
and all requirements should be so elastic that a pupil will not find him- 
self, after a good four-years' preparatory course of study, debarred from 
entering the college of his choice. 

VI. Resolved, That, while the committee recognizes as suitable for recommendation by 
the colleges for admission the several studies enumerated in this report, and while it also 
recognizes the principle of large liberty to the students in secondary schools, it does not 
believe in unlimited election, but especially emphasizes the importance of a certain num- 
ber of constants in all secondary schools and in all requirements for admission to c6llege. 

Resolved, That the committee recommends that the number of constants be recog- 
nized in the following proportion, namely : four units in foreign languages (no language 
accepted in less than two units), two units in mathematics, two in English, one in history, 
and one in science. 

The recognition of elective courses in secondary schools is no longer 
a controversial subject; all educators acknowledge educational values, but 
these educational values are relative rather than fixed, and depend not so 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 33 

much upon the subject-matter of the study and its intrinsic power to train 
and develop and strengthen mental fiber as upon the skill of the teacher 
who is to elucidate, illuminate, and make attractive such study, and upon 
the innate endowments, the heredity, and acquired talents of the student. 
It is believed, therefore, that there should be no absolutely fixed and 
inelastic requirements for admission to college, except so far as they may 
be within correlated groups. If, for instance, a college permits a modern 
language to be substituted for Greek, and the pupil presents in addition 
a year of mediaeval and modern history in place of a year in ancient his- 
tory, the former should be regarded as a full equivalent for the latter. 
The same may be said of science. If a pupil finds it more to his taste to 
pursue the study of biology, or even botany, a year in the place of physics 
or of chemistry, he should not be embarrassed by the refusal on the part 
of the college to accept the substitute. 

Secondary schools, therefore, should be allowed to arrange their pro- 
grams in accordance with local environment, the demands of their con- 
stituency, and the tastes of their pupils ; and when the work in any study 
is well done and a sufficient amount of it has been acquired, and this 
work is consistent with that done along other lines, it should be accepted 
by the college. The committee believes there should be constants in 
every secondary school. It is difficult, however, to fix these to the satis- 
faction of all. The committee would, therefore, have the constants in the 
foregoing resolution regarded as suggestive rather than unalterable. Few 
colleges, few committees, few boards of education will dissent from the 
proposition that every pupil should have at least one year of history, one 
year of some science taught by laboratory methods, and two years of 
English, including composition and literature ; some will argue that there 
are those who cannot master geometry, and yet, if one has the scholarship 
which will warrant the expenditure of four years in college, he will have 
the ability to assimilate algebra and geometry to the extent of two full 
years of work. The question of foreign languages is a mooted one, and yet 
most intelligent people will agree that one foreign language — and that, too, 
pursued four years — or two, each followed two years, is valuable, if for 
no other purpose than to give the pupil an enlarged and a more apprecia- 
tive idea of our incomparable English.^ These constants are submitted, 
therefore, as important for every secondary school. 

VII. Resolved, That the colleges will aid the secondary schools by allowing credit 
toward a degree for work done in secondary schools, beyond the amount required for 
entrance, when equal in amount and thoroness to work done in the same subjects in 
college. 

In many, and perhaps most, colleges the plan suggested in the above 
resolution is already in effect. Such recognition of school work by the 
colleges will tend to raise the estimation in which the school is held by the 
community. It will also directly assist the school in its natural effort 



34 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

to induce students to continue their studies in college, for if a student 
has, on finishing the school course, already one-third or a half year or 
more of work to his credit that may be counted toward a college degree, 
this fact constitutes a great incentive for going on with college work. 
Furthermore, it frequently happens that a student at the end of the last 
school year has one or two subjects to complete in order to finish the 
school course. This may happen for a variety of reasons, among which 
change of school and ill-health are most common. Should the student 
wish to go to college, two courses are open — either to enter college 
with conditions, or to remain an additional year in school so as to 
complete the course. But if the second alternative is adopted, the 
student, while making up deficiencies, can and should carry one or two 
additional studies, in order that the year's work may be complete. If 
these studies cannot be counted for college credit, there is temptation on 
the part of the student to do light work, and to take only the subjects 
required, with a tendency to acquire indolent habits of study. If the 
additional subjects above those required for completing the school course 
are accepted by the college toward a degree, a strong incentive is offered 
the student to do the best work possible, and the danger of falling into 
indolent habits is avoided. This college credit, furthermore, puts into the 
hands of the school principal one of his strongest arguments for inducing 
the pupil to remain an additional year at school, so that he may not 
enter college with conditions. It seems to the committee that there can 
be no question that the mutual interests of both school and college will 
be best subserved by making the class of conditioned students as small as 
possible. 

VIII. Resolved, That for students who have met a definite requirement in any science, 
and who continue the subject in college, it seems to us desirable that there be provided a 
suitable sequel to the school course in continuation of the study ; such students being in 
no case placed in the same class with beginners. 

It seems to be a somewhat common practice among colleges to accept 
a subject for entrance, but not to give it credit after the student has been 
admitted. This is illustrated specifically by the case in which physics is 
accepted as an entrance requirement, but not required of all students. 
Student A comes to college and presents a year's good work in physics, 
done in a high school or academy, as one of his entrance subjects. Student 
B has no physics, but presents something else, which is accepted as an 
entrance equivalent. In college, however, both A and B take precisely 
the same course in physics, one having had a year's work, with laboratory 
experiments, the other not having studied the subject at all. This practice 
is justified by the colleges on two grounds: (i) that the year's work in 
the high school really, after all, amounts to nothing, and (2) that it is 
impossible to make two different classes. The latter argument may be 
disregarded. In some cases it doubtless is true that the teaching force of 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 35 

the college does not permit the organization of two separate classes, and 
there is no argument with necessity. But the other argument, that the 
year's work in the high school is not of any value to the college, is refuted 
by the college itself, in two ways : (i) by accepting this year's work as of 
full value for entrance to the university, and (2) by allowing university 
credit for exactly the same sort of work in other subjects, as, for example, 
in Latin, French, or German. The student who offers French or German 
for admission to college is not put into the same college classes in either 
of those subjects with students who have not presented them for entrance, 
but is always put in an advanced class, and remains there until he has 
shown his unfitness. The practice of combining in the sam.e college 
class students who have had previous high-school instruction and those 
who have not is most common in the sciences, and while physics has been 
specified above, all of the sciences that are accepted as entrance require- 
ments share equally in this practice. The effect cannot be otherwise than 
disastrous upon science teaching in the high school, for if a student goes 
to college with a year's course in science and finds that work totally dis- 
regarded by the college authorities, he can but infer that the school 
work is without value. He is likely to send the report back to the school 
and other students will be deterred from taking the course in science, 
knowing that they will have to do the work over again when they go to 
college later. The effect on the student himself who, having had a year's 
work in science, is required to go again over the same ground, to a large 
extent, alongside of students who have no previous knowledge of the sub- 
ject, is most unfortunate. Experience totally disproves the argument 
that such work is in the nature of a thoro review and is, therefore, benefi- 
cial to the student. On the contrary, it is distasteful and tiresome. The 
student is likely to rely upon his previous knowledge and slight the work 
as much as possible. It frequently happens, therefore, that the student 
with the entrance equipment attains no better rank in his class than his 
fellow who entered without previous knowledge. This does not show, 
as has been supposed, that the high school is of no value, but it 
conclusively proves that such repetition is destructive of interest and 
calculated to foster careless habits of work. The adjustment of col- 
lege work to a wide range of elective entrance requirements certainly 
presents many difficulties, but it seems to the committee that, when 
the colleges have taken the step of offering this wide range of 
electives, they cannot well stop there, but are bound, so far as possible, 
to adjust the college work so that the students may not have to 
repeat in any branch work that has already been done, and pre- 
sumably, by the college's own recognition of it, well done, in second- 
ary schools. 

IX. Resolved, That we approve of encouraging gifted students to complete the pre- 
paratory course in less time than is required by most students. 



36 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

In this resolution the committee desires to approve a principle, rather 
than to recommend a definite plan for the application of that principle. 
Gifted students should be allowed special opportunities quite as much in 
grades below the secondary school as in the secondary school itself, and 
it seems probable, indeed, that the saving of time may be expected most 
advantageously in the lower grades. The subject of the grading of 
pupils below the secondary school is, however, not in the province of this 
committee. 

In laying out a course of study the average student must be the basis 
of reckoning, but in the schematization of educational work there is con- 
stant danger that the interest of the individual student may not be 
sufficiently considered. There are students who must take more than the 
allotted time in which to complete the preparatory course, while there are 
others who can easily finish the course in less than the schedule time. 
This can be done, too, without overpressure and consequent injury to 
health. It is a truism that some students acquire much more readily and 
easily than others. Modern educators do not accept the doctrine of 
Helvetius, that all men are by birth endowed with the same natural 
capacities. Instead of cramping and confining the more gifted students, 
it is the duty of the secondary school to discover them and to furnish 
them every opportunity for progress in their work. There are difficulties 
of administration, caused chiefly by the time schedule, which sometimes 
cannot be overcome ; but it seems to the committee that students have a 
right to expect that the school officers will use their best efforts to over- 
come these obstacles, and, so far ^s is consistent with good administra- 
tion, offer to the students full opportunity for progress according to their 
individual capacities. 

X. Resolved, That in general we recognize in schools the admissibility of a second 
year in advanced work in the same subject, instead of a second year in a related subject ; 
for example, two years in biology, instead of one year in biology and one year in chem- 
istry, where local conditions favor such an arrangement. 

Sound pedagogical reasons might be advanced in favor of the gen- 
eral proposition that two years' work in one scientific subject is better 
than one year's work in each of two scientific subjects. This principle 
is, indeed, generally held in regard to language studies. But in adopt- 
ing the above resolution the committee was influenced mainly by other 
considerations. In the smaller schools it is not usually possible to 
have more than one teacher for science. It can hardly be expected that 
a teacher will be equally able in physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, 
physiography, and the other sciences that enter into the course. With 
the general trend toward the adoption of departmental work in the 
schools and the gradual introduction of university-trained specialists into 
the corps of teachers, there are more and more teachers who are especially 
capable and well trained in one special branch of scientific study. Where 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 37 

a school possesses such a teacher, better results in scientific training may, 
and probably will, be obtained by permitting specialization in the field of 
the teacher's particular interest. Again, in not all schools is it possible 
to have a number of scientific laboratories. A school may be able to 
equip one laboratory adequately, but would find it quite impracticable to 
equip two or three. Since laboratory work is now regarded as an indis- 
pensable part of scientific instruction, two years in one science with full 
laboratory facilities might properly be regarded as better than one year's 
work in the same science with laboratory facilities plus a second year's 
work in a different science with laboratory facilities either very inade- 
quate or totally lacking. Where a laboratory is equipped for one year's 
work in science, the additional expense for equipping it for a second 
year's work in the same science is inconsiderable as compared with the 
expense of equipping another laboratory for a different science. For 
these reasons, mainly, it seems to the committee wise to recognize the 
substantial equivalence of two years' work in one science for a year's 
work in each of two different sciences. Some schools would be able to 
provide a year's work in one science and two years' work in one other 
science — a total of three years ii» science. The committee believes that 
the aim to be attained is a certain amount of scientific training of the 
proper and adequate sort, but that, so far as combination of subjects to 
make up this total is concerned, local conditions may properly be a deter- 
mining factor. 

The committee is not to be understood as recommending, as a rule., a 
second year of study' in the same subject, but only that such an arrange- 
ment is admissible or desirable under certain conditions. 

XI. Resolved, That it is desirable that colleges should accept, in addition to the 
year of United States history and civil government already recommended, at least one- 
half year of intensive study of some period of history, especially of the United States. 

To recommend collegiate recognition of the ''intensive study" of 
history in the secondary schools is only to ask the same recognition for 
history that is already accorded to other subjects, "Advanced require- 
ments" in languages, mathematics, and science have long been recog- 
nized; no one is likely to assert that an advanced requirement in history 
is less desirable than such a requirement in other subjects. But the chief 
reason for this recommendation is, of course, the belief that the secondary 
school will gain a valuable extension of its course of study — an impor- 
tant source of culture for the best students in history, in particular, but 
also for all interested pupils. 

The elementary course in history gives many glimpses of unexplored 
fields of knowledge that invite further inspection, and suggests many 
problems of social development that can be dealt with only incidentally 
at the time. Intensive study of history permits single pupils, or, at least, 
groups of pupils, to explore some of these fields, and to attack some of 



38 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

these suggested problems. To gratify the interest in historical study 
thus aroused is to promote the instinct of true scholarship, and hence 
afford an admirable preparation for college work. 

In a word, intensive study in history affords pupils an opportunity to 
pursue a favorite subject beyond the usual elementary course in history 
with which they must otherwise be content. It is, accordingly, a valuable 
stimulus and a satisfaction to both teachers and pupils. But unless this 
intensive study can be recognized in college-admission requirements, few 
schools will be able to provide it. 

XII. Resolved, That we recommend that any piece of work comprehended within the 
studies included in this report that has covered at least one year of four periods a week 
in a well-equipped secondary school, under competent instruction, should be considered 
worthy to count toward admission to college. 

It is the opinion of the committee that a larger option ought to be 
allowed to high-school pupils in selecting the subjects which they desire 
to offer for admission to college than is accorded at present. It is felt 
that the adoption of this policy of permitting larger options lies in the 
interest of the colleges, and of college education, as well as of the high 
schools and of high-school education. ^ 

The acceptance of this larger option will make it possible for many 
high schools to prepare properly for college which cannot do so at 
present, and thus the number of possible college students may be con- 
siderably increased. 

Many high schools find it impossible to offer one or another of the 
subjects required for admission to college at present, while they do offer 
instruction in subjects which there seems to be no adequate reason for 
excluding from the category of accepted branches. 

It will thus become possible for many high schools to undertake the 
work of preparation for college without seriously impairing that other, 
and perhaps more necessary, work involved in answering the demands of 
the public for instruction in the specific subjects which the local public 
insists upon. This will, moreover, permit the individual high-school 
pupil a range of choice among the subjects which he may desire to offer, 
which will be only a legitimate recognition of the elective principle in the 
sphere of secondary education. 

It will be noted that the recommendation of the committee in favor 
of a wider option in subjects is connected with this positive condition 
that such a subject must be pursued long enough to guarantee serious 
work, and that the high school must have adequate facilities for teaching 
the subject, and competent instructors to handle it. 

It is felt that the acceptance of the proposed wider range of options, 
combined with the insistence upon such a method of treatment, upon 
such amount of time, and upon such facilities for teaching as will secure 
good educational results from a disciplinary and cultural point of view, 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 39 

will have a pronounced influence in persuading high schools to adopt the 
principle of selecting a few subjects in which they can give adequate train- 
ing, rather than the patchwork system of selecting very many subjects and 
giving only slight attention to each one, which prevails in so many of our 
American high schools. And it is believed that this will be a very valu- 
able educational result, which might well compensate for any slight injuri- 
ous effects which might possibly flow from allowing this wider option. 

There is a general argument in favor of this plan which applies to the 
elective system in general, so far as it can be properly employed, namely, 
that the pupils themselves will take a greater interest in their work, will 
conceive a more earnest desire to attend the college and university, know- 
ing that they have an opportunity to pursue there the studies which have 
interested and benefited them in the high school. It is believed that the 
limitation of this recommendation to studies included in this report 
makes the above recommendation an exceedingly conservative one, and 
one in which all college and high-school men can unite. 

This proposition does not involve of itself, necessarily, the idea that 
all subjects are of equal cultural or disciplinary value, or even that the 
subjects here proposed are of equal or similar value. The acceptance of 
this recommendation does not, therefore, hold the committee to the 
espousal of any such doctrine, or the association, if it accepts the report 
and recommendation of this committee. It does involve, however, the 
proposition that, even tho there may be a difference in the disciplinary or 
cultural value of these subjects pursued under the conditions indicated, 
yet the advantages to our educational system of the adoption of this 
principle will be so great as far to outweigh any incidental disadvan- 
tage which may accrue from accepting as of equal value for college pur- 
poses the more or less unequal values represented by these studies. 

It is certainly a further argument for the wisdom of this recommenda- 
tion that it is directly in the line of all present movements in the educa- 
tional field. All the leading associations of college and secondary 
teachers in the United States have recently expressed views similar to 
these incorporated in the recommendation. It would seem, therefore, 
as if the conditions in different portions of the country were so similar 
that we have here to do with a principle which is applicable to all sec- 
tions of the United States. 

XIII. Resolved, That it is desirable that our colleges and universities should accept 
as a unit for admission a year's work in economics, including under this head a course in 
elementary political economy, supplemented by adequate instruction in commercial 
geography and industrial history. 

The present recommendation is really included in the preceding one, 
and we need not, therefore, spend very much time upon it. 

It is worth noting, however, that this is an additional recommendation 
to those contained in the various reports by the Committees on History 



40 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

and Civics, which from time to time have appeared of late in connection 
with our educational associations. It is the opinion of the committee 
that the subject of political economy, which is now taught in one form 
or another in very many of our high schools, is entitled by its importance, 
and by its disciplinary and cultural value, to a position in the programs 
of all hi^h schools, and that, when it is a part of such a program, and is 
conducted during the entire year, iii a school with proper facilities, and 
with properly qualified teachers, it deserves the same recognition as other 
subjects pursued under similar conditions. 

It will be noted that the committee recommends that some attention 
be given to commercial geography and industrial history in connection 
with the work in elementary political economy, and that these three sub- 
jects be taken as one. 

This recommendation is made because the committee feels that such 
a subject as this may easily become merely formal in the actual instruc- 
tion in the schools, and that it should receive a concrete treatment which 
will be assured to a certain extent by linking it with the practical subjects 
having such an intimate relation to it as commercial geography and 
industrial history. 

It appears to the committee that in a country like the United States, 
where all citizens are called upon to take sides in the discussion and 
decision of important economic questions, it is exceedingly desirable that 
the elements of economics should be included in the program of high 
schools for the sake of the pupils who may not go to college. And, fol- 
lowing the general line of the recommendations of this report, it is urged 
that, when the subject is so taught as to secure adequate results for those 
who do not go to college, it will also be so taught as to entitle the pupil 
who pursues it to the privilege of offering it as one of his requirements 
for admission to college. 

XIV. Resolved, That we recommend an increase in the school day in secondary 
schools, to permit a larger amount of study in school under supervision. 

In presenting this resolution the committee is aware that there is a 
great divergence of custom in the length of the day in secondary schools, 
the number and length of recitation periods, the noon intermissions, and 
the time devoted sacredly to study within the schoolhouse. A few have 
two sessions, following the rule governing the elementary schools ; some 
are from 8 a. m. to i p. m., and many from 9 a. m. to 2 p. m., with one- 
half hour at noon for a light lunch. 

We appreciate the almost unanimous and perhaps enlightened oppo- 
sition on the part of teachers to the proposition for a longer school day. 
The committee believes, however, that it is a subject for intelligent 
discussion, and that the weight of argument favors a longer day. The 
committee does not trace its convictions on this matter to the fact that 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 41 

the German secondary schools are one-half longer in session than our 
schools, and no hardship seems to result. 

There is no disposition to imitate European methods because they 
are European, but we believe it is easily demonstrable that it is in the 
class recitation and under the inspiration and instruction of the teacher, 
and not in the study hours at home, that the pupil acquires the bulk of 
his scholastic knowledge. 

A very large majority of the pupils who attend our secondary schools 
are of the middle class, a very respectable minority are of the poorer 
class, and only a small fraction are from the homes of the rich. 

In the cities and large towns the school buildings offer better conveni- 
ences for study than the homes ; pupils of immature age do not know how 
to study, and need the guidance and direction of an intelligent and inter- 
ested teacher; lessons should be learned largely in school in the quietness 
of rooms thoroly equipped for that purpose, in the midst of reference- 
books, maps, charts, pictures, and all of the paraphernalia incident to study; 
recitation periods should not be less than fifty minutes, instead of forty, 
as prevails in too many schools ; there must be time for drawing, physical 
culture, vocal music, and laboratory practice. 

The committee, therefore, recommends that the secondary-school build- 
ings be open for pupils from 8 a. m. until 4 p. m., and that all who find it 
more convenient and attractive be encouraged to occupy the rooms for 
reading and study, and that as many teachers as are necessary remain to 
assist these pupils in the prosecution of their work. 

The practice in some schools of having two sessions a day, with a long 
intermission at noon, is to be deplored. The committee especially disap- 
proves of the plan recommended by some with a view to economy, but 
which we think false economy, of having two sessions with different sets 
of pupils for morning and afternoon, whether taught by the same or dif- 
ferent teachers at each session. This method will require all study, all 
preparation of lessons, to be done at home, without the conveniences, the 
equipment, the inspiration of the school itself. It will destroy, in a large 
measure, the real function of the secondary school ; it will lessen the inter- 
est of the pupils, and limit the influence of the teachers ; it will separate 
children of the same families in the different years of the school ; it vfill 
make the instruction less potent and the discipline more difficult ; it will 
in every way tend to destroy the school as the real laboratory and work- 
shop of the pupil. 

NATIONAL UNITS, OR NORMS 

The vocabulary of pedagogy is not as yet clearly differentiated in all of 
its branches, a fact which accounts for no little confusion in educational 
discussions. The words "curriculum" and "course of study," for 
example, are used synonymously to apply either to the entire range of 



42 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

subjects pursued in a school, to the schematic arrangement of those subjects 
for an individual student, or to the quantum of any given subject, as mathe- 
matics or history. So we have the expressions, "high-school course of 
study," "high-school curriculum," "high-school course," the "Greek 
course "and the "course in Greek" (which may designate either a special 
schematic arrangement for the whole work of a pupil taking Greek, or 
specific work in Greek itself )," Latin course " and "course in Latin," 
etc., thru all the subjects. It is difficult to avoid the confusion which this 
inaccurate use of language makes almost inevitable. 

The committee, for itself, adopts a definite terminology which will 
be used during this discussion. Three distinct terms seem to be needed : 
{i) program of studies, which includes all of the studies offered in a given 
school ; (2) curriculum, which means the group of studies schematically 
arranged for any pupil or set of pupils ; (3) course of study, which means 
the quantity, quality, and method of the work in any given subject of 
instruction. 

Thus the program of studies includes the curriculum, and may, indeed, 
furnish the material for the construction of an indefinite number of cur- 
riculums. The course of study is the unit, or element, from which both 
the program and the curriculum are constructed. 

With the construction of a curriculum, or of several curriculums, this 
committee has not dealt. A very large number of such schematic plans 
are already in print. It is difhcult to decide, upon general principles, why 
one is better than another, and still more difficult to formulate a new one 
which shall be better than any other ; nor does it seem to the committee 
necessary or desirable that such a work should be undertaken. Individual 
differences of opinion among principals and teachers, as well as the 
influence of local conditions and surroundings, have always been reflected 
in school curriculums, and it seems necessary that they always should be. 
Absolute uniformity in our secondary education thruout the country, or 
thruout any considerable section of it, is so improbable that it is a waste 
of time to discuss the question as to whether it be desirable or not. The 
committee believes it is not desirable, but it is also of the opinion that 
uniformity is possible, practicable, and desirable in certain features of 
secondary work, and that, therefore, the proper course to pursue is one 
that will leave sufficient scope for individuality, in the field where indi- 
viduality rightly has most play. The committee aims to secure uniformity 
in that part of the field in which uniformity is most desirable. Using the 
terminology outlined in the above paragraph, there seems to be no need 
for uniformity in curriculums, and no possibility of it, but there does 
seem to be a great need for uniformity in courses of study, and no insur- 
mountable obstacles to the securing of such uniformity are discoverable. 
The course of study is the unit out of which curriculum^ and programs 
are framed. It is with this unit that the work of the committee has been 
chiefly concerned. 



COLLEGE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 43 

Acting on these lines, the committee has devoted its chief energies, 
thru several years, to securing the formulation of satisfactory courses 
of study which should serve as units, or norms, worthy of national 
acceptance. The process of formulating these units has been outlined in 
the preceding sections of the report. The work, on the wnole, represents 
the consensus of opinion of a very large body of the ablest experts in 
the country. The committee was obliged to rely upon the free co-opera- 
tion of bodies of specialists for the work of laying out courses in the 
several subjects. Under such circumstances it was inevitable that there 
should be some differences in the thoroness and enthusiasm with which 
the work was performed. Had the committee been able to call together 
special bodies of scholars and schoolmen to represent each subject taught 
in secondary schools, a more complete and symmetrical report might 
have been presented. On the other hand, it would have been impossible 
for the committee, with the amplest financial resources, to have secured 
such expert work as is represented in some of the special reports sub- 
mitted, notably those on Greek and Latin, modern languages, and history. 
On the whole, therefore, it was, perhaps, fortunate that the method of work 
pursued by the committee was forced upon it by circumstances. Each 
body of specialists was invited to outline an ideal and also a practical 
course of study in the special study it represented. These courses are 
printed, each under its appropriate head, in the department of special 
reports. 

These courses of study constitute so many national norms, or units, 
out of which any school may make up as rich a program of studies as its 
means and facilities permit ; a program, moreover, which may be made to 
yield several curriculums, or, possibly, almost as many curriculums as 
there are students, each curriculum perhaps being better than the others, 
from an individual point of view. 

In so far as the courses of study representing national units, or norms, 
may be adopted by the schools and colleges, great simplification will 
result in the subject of college-entrance requirements, the subject specifi- 
cally referred to this committee. Hitherto there has existed the widest 
confusion in this matter, a confusion that has been more emphatic in 
some studies than in others, no doubt, and yet it has pertained to all of 
them. It has been owing largely to this confusion that the colleges have 
been unwilling to abandon entrance examinations. For instance, 
elementary German as prescribed for an entrance requirement meant 
nothing unless the ground covered were outlined with some minuteness 
in the college catalog, for what might constitute elementary German in 
one school might be a course of three periods a week for a year, in another 
five periods a week for a year, in another four periods a week for two 
years ; in one school it might be pursued by the conversational or natural 
method, and in another by the grammatical method. The same, of 



44 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

course, is true of French. In history there has existed a great amount of 
confusion. There has also been lacking a general consensus of opinion 
as to what constituted proper work in science for entrance requirements 
to college. In the older studies, mathematics and the ancient classics, 
there has been less confusion, as they have had a longer time to crystallize 
into definite form; but the report on classics by the American Philological 
Association represents a very distinct and important advance in the 
organization of classical education in this country. 

The fundamental problem in this connection, in the minds of the 
committee at least, is to formulate courses of study in each of the several 
subjects of the curriculum which shall be substantially equal in value, 
the measure of value being both quantity and quality of work done. 
This idea has been kept firmly in mind by all the special committees, as 
is evinced by the fact that the courses of study outlined by these com- 
mitteeS; make no great or unusual demands upon the schools, and are 
evidently, at a first glance, in a general way, substantially equivalent. 
If schools and colleges were able, generally, to accept these courses, the 
statement of entrance requirements would be extremely simple and per- 
fectly intelligible. That such a general acceptance of these courses may 
not unreasonably be anticipated is shown from the experience with the 
English requirements for college entrance, which have within a few years, 
without any external pressure and authority, become practically uniform 
thruout the country, simply by reason of the formulation by a reputable 
body of experts of a definite course of work. It is not to be expected, 
nor is it desired, that all colleges should make the same entrance require- 
ments, nor is it to be expected that all schools will have the same pro- 
gram of studies. What is to be desired, and what the committee hopes 
may become true, is that the colleges will state their entrance requirements 
in terms of national units, or norms, and that the schools will build up their 
program of studies out of the units furnished by these separate courses 
of study. x\ college may recognize more or fewer of these units, but 
where it recognizes a subject at all, it is to be hoped that it will recognize 
it in the shape of the national unit. So, probably, very few schools will 
be able or desire to offer all of the units, but out of the total number 
of units outlined any school should be able to build up a satisfactory 
program from which all necessary curriculums could be extracted. 

Notwithstanding the care with which these courses of study represent- 
ing different units, or norms, have been formulated, it cannot be expected 
that they will meet with universal acceptance. In many matters of detail 
they are bound to be criticised, but the committee earnestly expresses 
the hope that where individual preferences differ in minor details from 
the statements made in the special reports and the principles outlined in 
the report of the committee as a whole, these individual preferences will 
be subordinated for the sake of the general good. The reports of the 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 45 

committees represent a large consensus of expert opinion, and as such 
should be entitled to weight and consideration. They are entitled also to 
the advantage of the doubt, where any individual questions as to whether the 
views expressed are sound on a given point. The opinion is held by good 
thinkers that we are living in an age of excessive individualism. It is cer- 
tainly true that the educational system of the country has suffered, and still 
suffers, from the great opportunity afforded by our system for the play of 
individual idiosyncrasies. It is quite true, on the other hand, that 
education, as a whole, has gained vastly from the freedom offered to 
individual initiative ; but on certain measures of national bearing the 
time has come to subordinate some personal preferences in order to 
reach an agreement which shall make for the public good. Such an 
agreement does not mean the abandonment or sacrifice of a principle, 
but it may involve the non-insistence on carrying the principle into 
immediate practice. In the curriculums large and, it would seem, ample 
scope is still left for the play of individuality. The committee distinctly 
refrains from entering upon the task of constructing curriculums to be 
imposed, for the sake of uniformity, upon the schools of the country. 
Such uniformity is not needed ; but uniformity in courses of study which 
shall lead to the establishment of national units, or norms, does seem to 
be of so great importance that both colleges and "secondary schools may 
fairly be expected to yield, to a large extent, individual opinions which 
interfere with its establishment. While the committee is unanimous in 
this opinion, it feels that the opinion would still be of little value but for 
the fact that in the course of four years' work upon this problem it has 
become convinced that there is a widespread sentiment among thought- 
ful educators of the country which demands such action. In formulating 
these courses of study, these units, or norms, and presenting them to the 
public, the committee does not, therefore, feel that it is leading the 
way into a new and untried field, making suggestions which may come 
to fruition in after-years, but that it is formulating, crystallizing, putting 
into definite shape beliefs and sentiments that have already taken hold 
upon the educational public. Legislation is largely the official recogni- 
tion of existing facts or sentiments. The committee in this work feels 
that it is acting more in a legislative than in a pioneer capacity. 

RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS 
Resolved^ That the conference desires to express its hearty thanks to all who have 
contributed to the success of the meeting ; to President Harper for his cordial welcome 
and interest in the prosecution of its work ; to the university for opening wide its doors 
and extending all its privileges ; to Dr. William Gardner Hale for his special hospitality; 
to many other professors of the university for generous entertainment ; and especially to 
the officers and members of the Quadrangle Club for the free use of their rooms and 
many other courtesies that have facilitated the work of the conference, and contributed 
greatly to the pleasure of its individual members ; and to the Chicago press for the 
unusual pains taken to give full and impartial reports of its proceedings. 



46 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

Resolved, That the hearty thanks of the committee are due, and are hereby extended, 
to the American Philological Association, the Modern Language Association of America, 
the American Historical Association, the western branch of the American Mathematical 
Association, and the Natural Science Department of the National Educational Associa- 
tion, for the great interest they have taken in our work, for the valuable services they have 
rendered in furnishing reports and other manuscript material for our use in preparing our 
report. Also to Professor Alexander Smith and Dr. John M. Coulter, of the University 
of Chicago, and Mr. Charles W. French, of the Hyde Park High School, of Chicago, for 
assistance similar in kind, and for the information and counsel they have so kindly 
furnished the committee since our session began. 

Resolved, That the committee heartily appreciates the sustained interest of its chair- 
man, and realizes that what measure of success it has attained is largely due to his indefati- 
gable labors toward securing material from experts for the consideration of the committee, 

RESOLUTIONS DEFINING DUTIES OF EDITORIAL COMMITTEE AND 
APPOINTING SAME 

Resolved, That the chairman, Mr. Nightingale, together with Professors James and 
Thurber, be constituted a committee to prepare for publication the final report of the 
joint committee, and to carry it thru the press. 

Resolved, That this committee of three has permission and authority to call upon the 
individual members of the joint committee for such facts and views as in their judgment 
may be necessary in preparing the report. 

Resolved, That the report, when in type, be sent to all members of the general com- 
mittee, in proof sheets, for their suggestions and criticisms, with the understanding that 
the committee of three shall be the final authority as to the admissibility of such sugges- 
tions and criticisms into the report as finally published. 

Resolved, That when in the opinion of this committee of three such suggestions and 
criticisms cannot be properly admitted into the report, their authors shall have liberty to 
express them in dissenting special reports over their names. 

Resolved, That it is not desirable that such dissenting reports shall be insisted upon 
except in the cases of serious divergency of views, of which the authors themselves shall 
be the sole judges. 

It will be seen, by reference to the resolutions constituting and 
instructing the editorial committee of three, that the general committee 
thought it desirable to avoid, as far as possible, divergent views and dis- 
senting opinions in the final report, and to secure the largest possible 
consensus of opinion consistent with the truth. This instruction has been 
carried out in its spirit. While the names of all the committee are signed 
to the report, and there are no dissenting reports, it is not to be supposed 
that the members of the committee all indorse every view and opinion 
that the report contains. 

CONCLUSION 

Upon several subjects of great importance this report is silent, much 
to the regret of the committee. These omissions and deficiencies must 
be regarded as due to the conditions under which the committee have 
worked, and not at all to any feeling on the part of the committee that 
these subjects are of relatively small importance. That courses of study 
have not been prepared in geology, astronomy, and physiology — subjects 
which play an important part in secondary courses, and which are, to 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 47 

some extent at least, recognized for entrance to college — is perhaps the 
most important omission. The committee is bound to state, in justi- 
fication of its own action, that, in accepting the proffered aid of the 
Department of Science of the National Educational Association, it 
depended upon the department for detailed reports upon courses of study 
in the several sciences taught in secondary schools, in the same way that 
it depended upon the Philological, the Historical, and the Modern Lan- 
guage Associations for detailed reports in their several branches of instruc- 
tion. These reports were not forthcoming on the subjects of astronomy, 
geology, and physiology. In the three-days' session held by the commit- 
tee it was quite impracticable to secure any reports that would have weight 
and value. The detailed consideration of these subjects is, therefore, 
reluctantly omitted from this report. But the committee would call 
attention to the fact that the general principles laid down in the report 
as a whole apply quite as thoroly to the branches just enumerated as to 
all the others for which detailed courses of study have been submitted. It 
might be helpful to the schools if carefully planned courses of study in 
astronomy, geology, and physiology could be presented in this document, 
but the general principles upon which such courses should be constructed 
and administered, in order that they may be received for college entrance, 
have been fully elucidated in connection with the other subjects of instruc- 
tion and in the general resolutions adopted by the committee. So far, 
therefore, as the specific work of this committee is concerned in determin- 
ing the principles to be followed in adjusting secondary courses to meet 
college-entrance requirements, and vice versa, it cannot be held that any 
subject has been slighted, for the fundamental work of the committee has 
been a formulation of principles that are equally applicable to all subjects 
of instruction. 

Since the work of the committee is concerned in large part with the 
courses of study in secondary schools, it would, no doubt, have been 
desirable that the subject of commercial instruction should have been 
taken into consideration. What relation commercial studies shall have to 
other studies in the program, and whether any commercial studies, such 
as history of industries, history of commerce, and commercial geography, 
should be recognized for admission to college, are questions that will 
soon have immediate practical importance. The whole subject of com- 
mercial education in secondary schools seems to the committee one 
deserving of special study, one, indeed, for the consideration of which a 
special committee might well be appointed. Nor is the committee 
unmindful of the fact that it has not carried out that part of its self-adopted 
program of work which committed it to an investigation of the best meth- 
ods of admission to college, whether by examination or by some form of 
certification. This question, however, seems not so fundamental as those 
to which the committee has advocated its labors. Still it would, no 



48 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

doubt, be desirable to have an adequate study made of this matter in all 
of its phases and bearings. The time and resources at the disposal of the 
committee, however, were not adequate for accomplishing more than is 
herewith presented. 

When it is remembered that the investigations carried on by the com- 
mittee itself and those carried on at its suggestion, the results of which 
are herewith presented, have all been completed under a single appro- 
priation, from the National Educational Association, of ^500 — an appro- 
priation, moreover, which did not become available until the present 
year — it will be obvious at once that the committee has been favored by 
the generous and self-sacrificing assistance of many collaborators. A 
large number of educators, including those whose names are signed to 
the various special reports, and many others as well, have given gener- 
ously of time, and also of money, to further the work of this committee. 
The cordial and enthusiastic support accorded to this investigation from 
the outset has been an unfailing source of inspiration to the members of 
the committee themselves, and a sure sign of the importance ascribed to 
the relations of high schools and colleges as a factor in the development 
of our higher education. The officers of the National Educational Asso- 
ciation have given their cordial support to the work of the committee 
at every stage of its progress. The committee now submits its report, 
with the most cordial appreciation of the generous aid it has thus far 
received, with a conviction of the importance of the subject discussed that 
has grown more intense with every additional day of labor given to the 
report, and with no feeling that the work intrusted to the committee has 
been finally and forever accomplished, but in the hope that an important 
contribution has been made to the adjustment of the vexed relations 
between secondary and higher education, and with confident expectation 
that the report thus submitted will receive the careful study and, so far as 
may be justified, the approval and adoption of those who direct the 
higher education of this country. 

A. F. Nightingale, Chairman, 

Superintendent of High Schools, Chicago, 111. 

W. H. Smiley, Secretary, 

Principal of High School, District No. i, Denver, Colo. 

George B. Aiton, 

State Inspector of High Schools, Minneapolis, Minn. 

J. Remsen Bishop, 

Principal, Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, O. 
John T. Buchanan, 

Principal of Boys' High School, New York, N. Y. 

Henry B. Fine, 

Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton. 
N.J. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 49 

Paul H. Hanus, 

Professor of the Science and Art of Education, Harvard 
University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Burke A. Hinsdale, 

Professor of the Science and Art of Education, University of 
Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 

Ray Greene Huling, 

Principal of the English High School, Cambridge, Mass. 

Edmund J. James, 

Professor of Public Administration, University of Chicago, 
Chicago, 111. 

William Carey Jones, 

Professor of Jurisprudence, University of California, Berkeley, 
Cal. 

James E. Russell, 

Dean of the Teachers' Colleg^e, Columbia University, New 
York, N. Y. 

Charles H. Thurber, 

Associate Professor of Pedagogy, University of Chicago, Chi- 
cago, 111. 



PART II 



SPECIAL REPORTS* 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF TWEL VE OF THE AMER- 
ICAN PHILOIOGICAL ASSOCIATION ON COURSES IN 
lATIN AND GREEK IN SECONDARY SCHOOISf 



I. INTRODUCTION. THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE 

OF TWELVE 

The Committee of Twelve of the American Philological Association 
was appointed at a special session held in Philadelphia in December, 
1894. It was instructed to bring to the attention of those who were 
interested in the subject a resolution, which the association had unani- 
mously passed, that " in any program designed to prepare students for 
the classical course not less than three years of Greek should be 
required." The same committee was afterward requested to take into 
consideration also *' the question of the amount of Latin needed for the vari- 
ous courses in secondary schools." ' In accordance with these instructions, 
in the spring of 1895 the committee prepared an address on the study of 
Greek, which was approved at the next session of the association and was 

* The special reports that follow were prepared by committees, appointed by the dif- 
ferent associations which they represent, at the request of the Committee of the National 
Educational Association on College-Entrance Requirements. They call for careful study 
and the most earnest consideration, and can but be regarded as the most valuable con- 
tributions to secondary education which have ever been published. 

The model courses of study presented are commended by the committee, altho it was 
not within the limits of its labor to verify all the statistics which will be found interest- 
ing, nor does it comment on the inferences drawn. These reports have been written after 
an amount of correspondence and investigation which can scarcely be estimated, and 
the large expense incurred has been borne by the associations calling them forth. We 
believe they will be of incalculable value to the better class of secondary schools thruout 
the country. A. F. Nightingale, Chairman. 

■j" The Committee of Twelve desires to express its sense of obligation to the twelve 
hundred teachers who have aided it by generously imparting information and counsel. 
The heaviest burdens of the committee have been borne by Professor Kelsey, of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan; Professor West, of Princeton University; and the chairman, Pro- 
fessor Seymour, of Yale University. 

''■Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Special Session, 1894, p. xxvlii. 

50 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 5 1 

extensively circulated.^ At the meeting of the National Educational Asso- 
ciation in July of the same year a copy of this address was laid before the 
Department of Secondary Education, which received it cordially and gave 
it a place in the minutes of the meeting."" In the spring of 1896 the com- 
mittee prepared a report on the amount of time that should be allotted to 
Latin in school programs. This report was not only submitted to the 
American Philological Association, but was also, in accordance with a 
suggestion made by several members of the National Educational Associ- 
ation, presented at Buffalo in July to the joint session of the Depart- 
ments of Higher and of Secondary Education, which expressed hearty 
approval of it by a unanimous vote, and ordered it printed in the minutes, ^ 
At this time the National Educational Association was undertaking a 
comprehensive study of school programs in their relation to college- 
entrance requirements. At the Denver meeting a joint committee, com- 
posed of prominent members of the Departments of Higher and of 
Secondary Education, had been appointed, with instructions to report on 
the whole subject of entrance requirements the following year. This 
committee first made an extensive investigation of existing conditions,* 
and then proceeded to formulate a plan of work. Having reached the 
conclusion that the problem of securing uniform entrance requirements 
can be solved only thru the attainment of greater* uniformity in 
courses of study, the joint committee voted, as a part of its scheme, to 
invite certain scientific societies to render expert assistance in forming 
model programs which might be adopted by high schools, academies, and 
private schools in all parts of the country. The plan of work elaborated 
by this committee, including a proposition to invite the co-operation of 
the American Philological Association, was laid before the joint session of 
the Departments of Higher and of Secondary Education at Buffalo, and 
was adopted without modification.^ The secretary of the joint committee 
at once sent a telegram to the American Philological Association, which 
was then in session at Providence, inviting it " to prepare at its conven- 
ience a report on the proper course of secondary instruction in Latin and 
Greek." The American Philological Association accepted t'^e invitation 
and instructed its Committee of Twelve to construct courses of study in 
the two languages as requested.^ 

I Proceedings for July, 1895, pp. xxxii-xxxviii. 

•2 Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Educational Association, 1895^ pp. 
581, 632-5 ; School Review for June, 1895, pp. 434-41. 

^ Proceedings and Addresses of the National Educational Association, 1896, pp. 559-62; Pro- 
ceedings of the American Philological Association for July, 1896, pp. li-lv. The report was published 
also in the School Review for June, 1896, pp. 472-4; the New York Evening Post for July 11, 1896; 
and Book Reviews for August, 1896, pp. 101-3. 

4 See the School Reviev for June, 1896. 

5 Proceedings and Addresses of the National Educational Association, 1896, pp, 558-9; School 
Review for June, 1898, p. 443. 

^Proceedings of the American Philological Association for July, 1896, p. Iv. 



52 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

The Committee of Twelve took up promptly the important work that 
had been assigned to it, and, after some preliminary correspondence, met 
in New York in December, 1896. It voted to send a circular of inquiry 
to teachers in all parts of the United States, requesting information regard- 
ing the present condition of the study of the classics, and suggestions in 
relation to classical programs. It decided also to invite representative 
men engaged in the work of secondary education, scholars of undoubted 
pedagogic ability and experience, to co-operate with it, as auxiliary com- 
mittees for Latin and for Greek, and to have a meeting of the combined 
committees in the spring vacation of 1897/ 

More than six thousand copies of the circular of inquiry were sent 
out — to teachers of Latin and Greek, to superintendents, to principals of 
schools, and to others who are prominent in educational work. About 
one thousand replies were received, and thus there was placed in the hands 
of the committee a mass of material for consideration — exact information, 
and the opinions of specialists — such as had never before been gathered 
in relation to this subject. Great and general interest in the undertaking 
was evinced by the care with which most of the answers to the questions 
of the circular had been prepared. The replies were carefully tabulated 
by Dr. Arthur Fairbanks, of Yale University, and were brought before the 
committee at tlie meeting in New York, April 14.^ The Committee of 
Twelve was in session with its auxiliary committees for two days, and 
worked diligently. After listening to a statement with regard to the 
answers to its inquiries, and to a discussion of certain fundamental ques- 
tions connected with secondary instruction in the classics, the combined 
committees divided into two sections for the preparation of school pro- 
grams for Greek and for Latin. In the time at their disposal the com- 
mittees were able only to draft tentatively a four-year Latin course and a 
three-year Greek course ; the whole matter of five-year and six-year Latin 
courses was referred to a special subcommittee, which met in Chicago in 
May. As a result of these labors, in the fall of 1897, the Committee of 
Twelve issued a preliminary report, which contained a brief statement in 
regard to the organization of the committee and the purpose of its work, 
and presented for criticism the tentative courses that had been drawn up 
— four-year, five-year, and six-year courses in Latin, and a three-year course 
in Greek.^ This preliminary report was submitted to the principal educa- 
tional associations of the country, and copies were sent also to a number 
of educational experts; many kindly and helpful suggestions were received, 
and it became evident that the tentative programs, with slight modifica- 
tions, would give as general satisfaction as any courses of study which the 
committee could devise. 

"i Proceedings of the American Philological Association for July, 1897, p. xxviii. 

2 See the School Review for June, 1897, pp. 350-59. 

3 Published also (In essentially the same form) in the School Review for June, 1897, pp. 362-6} 
Proceedings of the American Philological Association fp July, 1897, pp. xxxi-x^xiv. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 53 

Notwithstanding the favorable reception of the preliminary report, the 
Committee of Twelver esolved again to avail itself of the advice and criti- 
cism of those who are actually engaged in the work of classical instruction 
in secondary schools, before issuing its report in final form. A meeting 
of the combined committees was appointed to be held at Ann Arbor, 
Mich., in the spring vacation of 1898, and in order to attract a number 
of classical teachers, with whom the problems under consideration could 
be discussed face to face, a classical conference was arranged, with a two- 
days' program of scientific and pedagogical papers. The meetings opened 
with a session of the Latin section of the combined committees, on March 
30; the conference was held on March 31 and April i, and the Commit- 
tee of Twelve met for its final session on April 2. The attendance at the 
classical conference was full and representative,^ while at the various ses- 
sions of the committee officers and representative members were present, 
by invitation, from the more important educational associations of the 
East, the South, and the West, whose direct testimony gave a deeper 
insight into the conditions of classical study, in all parts of the country, 
than could have been gained from correspondence alone. Before adjourn- 
ing, the Committee of Twelve voted that the publication of the courses of 
study, to the formulation of which so much time and effort had been given, 
should be accompanied by a statement of the reasons which had influ- 
enced its conclusions. 

From what has been said it will be evident that this report was not 
prepared hastily by a committee anxious to avoid the consideration of bur- 
densome details, and that it is not based primarily on theoretical consid- 
erations. It embodies conclusions reached after painstaking inquiry into 
actual conditions, as well as the results of mature and intelligent expe- 
rience on the part of the advisers of the committee ; and it has been 
drawn up after full consideration of the difficulties that lie along the path 
of educational advance in the secondary field. The committee is firmly 
of the opinion that the work outlined in the classical program here offered 
lies within the range of accomplishment of any school which has a com- 
petent classical teacher, and that there is no reason why at least the four- 
year Latin course and the three-year Greek course may not be generally 
adopted as a standard of classical work in the schools of the North, the 
South, the East, and the West. 

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS REGARDING THE REPORT 

The investigations pursued by this committee show that there is a tend- 
ency in many places to increase the amount of time allowed to Latin in 
school programs, and that there is nowhere a movement in the other 
direction. The reports of the United States Commissioner of Education 
for the last nine years also reveal the highly encouraging fact that the 

* See the School Review for June, 1898, pp. 425, 481. 



54 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

increase of enrollment of pupils in Latin in our secondary schools is very 
large J and is relatively greater than the increase in any other study .^ Nearly 
175,000 more pupils were studying Latin in 1897-98 than in 1889-90. 
The increase of pupils in Greek, while not so marked, is likewise distinctly 
encouraging. Nearly 25,000 were reported as studying Greek in prepara- 
tory courses in 1897-98, against about 13,000 eight years earlier. Then, 
too, substantial progress has been made in the proper training of teachers. 
We are undoubtedly still far from having attained a proper professional 
standard ; but, on the other hand, the facilities for training classical 
teachers are being constantly, even if somewhat irregularly, developed. It 
is now possible, as it was not twenty years ago, to find a fair number of 
well-equipped university courses devoted, at least in part, to the special 
training of capable instructors for our high schools and academies. There 
is also a distinct tendency to adapt text-books, in both Latin and Greek, 
to the pedagogical needs of pupils and teachers, and to emphasize the 
humanistic, as opposed to the pedantic, ideal of classical culture. The 
existence of all these favorable tendencies at the present time seems to 
indicate that we are entering upon abetter age for the school study of the 
classics. A situation so hopeful as this naturally makes the necessity of 
giving organic unity to the increasing body of classical interests more 
pressing than ever before. 

The committee is the more encouraged in proposing the courses of 
study submitted in this report, because it has made a careful investigation 
of the classical instruction in about a thousand high schools and acade- 
mies, and has had associated with it, in all its conferences, representative 
schoolmen from the chief regions of our country where the classics are 
taught. On the basis of information thus obtained as to the actual con- 
dition of the teaching of Latin and Greek, and as to the resources and 
legitimate expectations of our secondary schools, we have been enabled 
to test in advance, so to speak, the practicability of the plans here pre- 
sented ; and we are gratified to be able to state that these plans are not 
based on a compromise of conflicting interests, but that, both in our 
judgment and in the judgment of the auxiliary committees, composed of 
representative teachers of Latin and Greek, they present a rational and 
practical standard, containing all the essentials in a sufficiently uniform 
relation, and yet affording a flexibility sufficient to allow for all reason- 
able diversity in different classes of schools in different parts of the land. 
The plans involve no radical reconstruction, but aim to bring the actually 
existing practices of our schools into organic unity, by gradual adaptation 
to a more consistent standard. 

The problem encountered in dealing with the question of instruction 
in Latin in our American high schools, academies, and other secondary 
schools, while similar to the corresponding problem for Greek, is more 

I See Appendix B at the end of this report. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 55 

complicated. It is similar because the principles which regulate the intro- 
duction of young students to both languages have long been recognized 
as practically identical. Utrique eadem via est, the maxim of Quintilian, 
might be taken without modification as summing up the settled belief of 
the best teachers of our own century with reference both to the unity of the 
classics as a field of study and to the unity of method to be pursued in teach- 
ing the two classical languages. The problem is more complicated, because 
more Latin than Greek is usually taught in any given school, because Latin 
is taught in a far larger number of schools, because many schools have more 
than one course in Latin instead of a single course as in Greek, and lastly 
because the length of time devoted to Latin varies more than the length 
of time devoted to Greek. 

But another, and far more serious, cause of complication lies outside 
the relation of the two languages to each other, and is, in fact, a difficulty 
underlying our secondary education generally, so far as concerns the 
drawing up of programs of study, namely the lack of uniformity in courses 
of study in high schools and academies, and its cause or concomitant, 
the lack of uniformity in college standards of entrance. If, as we believe, 
the need of greater uniformity is urgent in order to enable our secondary 
education to accomplish its proper ends, then in no part of the field is it 
more conspicuously urgent than in the framing of programs of study. 
For unless school programs can in some rational way be so brought into 
harmony that classical courses, for example, so far as equal amounts of 
time are allotted to them, shall mean substantially the same thing in all 
parts of the country, we cannot expect to remedy either the existing 
inequalities and waste of time and energy in our school instruction, or 
the equally irrational inequalities of our college-entrance requirements in 
the same field. If, on the other hand, the school programs in Latin and 
Greek can be made substantially uniform, the schools themselves will 
be greatly helped, and a long step will have been taken toward the solu- 
tion of a question which has deeply vexed the colleges. 

In the case of the classics, as in the case of other studies, the desired 
remedy is not to be sought in any attempt to bring all the schools to the 
adoption of a single, inflexible program. Such uniformity would be 
both impracticable and in itself undesirable. Neither is it desirable that 
the various regions of the country should each make an independent pro- 
gram. There is already too much of such diversity, which tends to stereo- 
type and perpetuate causes of division and hindrance — to provincialize 
rather than to nationalize our teaching. The committee recognizes, of 
course, that local differences in the programs of Latin and Greek will 
always exist, and that many of these differences are inevitable under any 
plan that may be proposed. Many of them are, indeed, made reasonable 
by local conditions. The committee was not directed to prepare a plan 
which could be carried out at once in every school, but the best prograna 



56 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

which is practicable for the schools of the country under prevailing con- 
ditions — for public high schools, as well as for endowed academies and 
private "fitting schools." The precise amount of time that a school can 
allow for Latin and Greek determines much, and this amount is sure to 
vary. Even more is determined by the strength and skill of the teaching 
force. Legitimate differences of opinion must also exist with reference 
to the order in which the different authors may best be taken up, and the 
precise amount of each that shall be read. Still other causes of variation 
will occur to those who are actually engaged in the work of teaching, and 
allowance must be made for such causes in any proposal designed to 
secure general assent. But after all concessions have been made to the 
inevitable diversity that arises from differences of locality and of methods, 
there still remain other differences which need elimination, or at least 
reduction to some common standard of variation, if any permanent suc- 
cess is to attend the present hopeful movement toward uniformity. 

It is, indeed, fortunate for the cause of classical studies at the present 
time that the schools and colleges are already generally agreed as to the 
importance of greater organic unity in the courses of our preparatory 
schools. The present decade has witnessed far more extensive and intelli- 
gent discussion and conference looking toward the accomplishment of 
this result than has ever before been known in our country. 

In offering the fruits of its labors to the two educational bodies under 
which it has been working, the Committee of Twelve desires to make 
grateful acknowledgment of the invaluable assistance which it has received 
from the members of its auxiliary committees and from other educational 
workers, who have freely responded to every request for information and 
counsel ; and it wishes further to express the hope that this report may 
contribute in some measure to the unification and advancement of our 
secondary instruction in Greek and Latin. 

CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF TWELVE AND ITS AUXILIARY 

COMMITTEES 

THE COMMITTEE OF TWELVE 

Thomas Day Seymour, professor of Greek, Yale University, chair- 
man 

Cecil F. P. Bancroft, principal of Phillips Andover Academy. 

Franklin Carter, president of Williams College. 

William Gardner Hale, professor of Latin, University of Chicago. 

William R. Harper, president of the University of Chicago. 

Francis W. Kelsey, professor of Latin, University of Michigan. 

Abby Leach, professor of Greek, Vassar College. 

Charles Forster Smith, professor of Greek, University of Wisconsin. 

Clement L. Smith, professor of Latin, Harvard University. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 57 

Herbert Weir Smyth, professor of Greek, Bryn Mawr College. 
MiNTON Warren, professor of Latin, Johns Hopkins University. 
Andrew F. West, professor of Latin, Princeton University. 

THE auxiliary COMMITTEES 

The Latin Auxiliary Committee was constituted as follows : 

George B. Aiton, inspector of state high schools, Minneapolis, Minn. 
J. Remsen Bishop, Walnut Hill High School, Cincinnati, O. 
David Y. Comstock, principal of St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johnsbury, Vt. 
E. W. Coy, principal of the Hughes High School, Cincinnati, O. 
Lawrence C. Hull, Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N. J. 
Richard A. Minckwitz, Kansas City High School, Kansas City, Mo. 
Oscar D. Robinson, principal of the Albany High School, Albany, N. Y. 
Charles H. Thurber, dean of Morgan Park Academy, Morgan Park, 111. 
A. W. Tressler, superintendent of schools, Monroe, Mich. 
W. R. Webb, principal of Webb School, Bell Buckle, Tenn. 

The Greek Auxiliary Committee was constituted as follows : 

Edward B. Clapp, professor of Greek, University of California, Berkeley, Cal. 
E. G. Coy, principal of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. 
J. G. Crosswell, principal of the Brearley School, New York city. 
William Gallagher, principal of the Thayer Academy, South Braintree, Mass. 
Robert P. Keep, principal of the Free Academy, Norwich, Conn. 
C. A. Mitchell, classical master of the University School, Cleveland, O. 
W. D. MooNEY, principal of the Mooney School, Franklin, Tenn. 
J. H. Pratt, principal of the Milwaukee Academy, Milwaukee, Wis. 
Julius Sachs, principal of the Collegiate School, W. Fifty-ninth street. New York 
city. 

H. G. Sherrard, classical master of the High School, Detroit, Mich. 

IL GREEK COURSES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

The preparation of the Greek programs presented to the committee a 
simple problem, in view of the limited time which can be given in the 
schools to the reading of Greek literature, and of the small amount of 
Greek literature which is suitable for classes of beginners. The problem 
had been still further simplified by the discussions and actions of recent 
conferences, particularly the Greek conference of the Committee of Ten, 
the Commission of New England Colleges, and the Greek conference 
held at Columbia University in the spring of 1896 — all of these being in 
substantial agreement, and already approved by many of the most able 
teachers of the country. The replies to the committee's circular of inquiry 
gave abundant information, both as to what is actually done in our 
schools, and as to what is desired. From California, Wisconsin, and Ten- 
nessee, in particular, had come letters which presented a most hopeful 
view of the position of the classics in the schools, and urged that the com- 
mittee should yield to no suggestion of a weaker, less exacting course of 
preparation for college. The committee was unanimous in reaffirming 
the position taken by the Greek conference of the Committee of Ten, 



58 / NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

and proposed a program which is in essential agreement with those of 
the Commission of New England Colleges and the Columbia conference 
of 1896. 

The committee recommends that three years be devoted to the study 
of Greek in secondary schools, with the understanding that the year con- 
sists of not less than thirty-eight weeks of school work, and that five 
periods of recitation a week, of not less than forty-five minutes each, be 
given to this study. In some parts of the United States work is crowded 
into two years, to which, in other parts, three years are devoted. Under 
exceptional circumstances, with earnest scholars and skillful teachers and 
long school years, the work of preparation for college in Greek may be 
done well in two years ; but in general, with less earnestness and skill, 
this work is likely to be superficial if it is so hurried, and the Committee 
of Twelve still (and more earnestly than ever) urges the maintenance of a 
three-year preparatory course in Greek, 

The committee further recommends heartily a thoro and methodical 
study of Greek grarnmar as the necessary basis of accurate reading. No 
one proposes to return to the former practice of committing to memory 
all of the rules of Greek grammar before applying them in reading ; but 
pupils cannot be expected to prove fair scholars unless they know Greek 
forms and the elements of Greek syntax well before they are sent to 
college. Moreover, a vigorous and continued effort should be made to 
correlate and arrange the isolated grammatical facts in the pupil's mind. 
Our Greek grammars aim to be scientific, and their arrangement should 
be well understood by the pupil, in order that he may know where to 
look for the information which he needs. The teacher is in danger of 
forgetting that the pupil does not easily obtain the general view of the 
field of grammatical study with which he is himself familiar, and that it 
is this knowledge alone which enables the beginner to put into their 
right relations the grammatical facts which he learns. For instance, the 
pupil should know the most important syntactical uses of each case — 
understanding that the genitive has accepted the work of the ablative in 
addition to its own, and the dative that of the instrumental and the 
locative. The correspondence between the constructions of conditional 
and relative sentences should be clearly apprehended. Altho the 
*' analysis " of the verbal forms is no longer required so strictly as it was 
a quarter of a century ago, the pupil may well be taught the elements of 
word-formation and inflection. 

The committee further recommends that, from the beginning, system- 
atic instruction be given in Greek composition, and that exercises in 
writing Greek, based upon connected reading in Greek prose, be con- 
tinued thru the third year. Elementary Greek composition, which 
alone is attempted in the schools of America, is an indispensable auxili- 
ary to, and we may almost say a part of, grammatical study. The teacher 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 59 

does not expect to train his pupil to vie with Xenophon as a Greek 
writer ; he is entirely satisfied if his pupil can read Greek. Composition 
should not, therefore, be considered as taking time from reading, but as 
preparing the pupil to read more readily and accurately. It fixes the 
pupil's vocabulary more firmly in his mind, serves as a constant review of 
Greek forms, quickens his sensitiveness to the peculiar significance of the 
order of words in the Greek prose sentence, and to the difference of 
meaning between similar words and constructions. It is useful also as a 
check to the carelessness into which many pupils are in danger of falling, 
if (as is well) they read large quantities of Greek cursorily *' at sight." 
For accurate scholarship in Greek we know no better training than many 
and carefully corrected exercises in Greek composition. These exercises 
should not be postponed to a late part of the course, but should be begun 
at the outset, when they will materially assist the pupil in mastering the 
forms, make his knowledge of constructions exact, cause him to observe 
Greek usage, and help him to feel the accuracy and force with which the 
Greek language can express thought. If they are neglected during any 
part of the reading course, to be resumed only a short time before the 
pupil leaves the secondary school, the subject is likely to become distaste- 
ful, because unwonted and difficult to the pupil, who will have been 
deprived of the aid which he should have received from the exercise 
during his entire course. 

The continuance of exercises in Greek composition during the third 
year, while most of the time of instruction is given to Homer, is particu- 
larly important. This has been proved to be the best means of preserv- 
ing the familiarity with Attic forms and constructions which is essential 
for satisfactory work in the college course, in the reading of Plato, 
Demosthenes, Sophocles, Euripides, etc. 

In the hands of a skillful teacher, the most efficient exercises in Greek 
composition are in retroversion, that is, the re-turning into Greek of the 
English of some Attic prose which has been read by the student. If the 
teacher has not the time to prepare such exercises for his class, several 
text-books are ready to render this service. Certain advantages, 
however, are possessed by the systematic presentation of Greek con- 
structions, in books which are prepared with no reference to a special 
text. A combination of the two methods is desirable wherever prac- 
ticable. 

In this country, teachers are in little danger of going to excess in 
attending to the niceties of Greek composition. The making of Greek 
iambic and lyric verse, which has been practiced in England, quickens 
the aesthetic and literary sensibilities, but is useful chiefly for those who 
have time for advanced scholarship. The criticisms which have been 
uttered against such composition of verses do not hold against the com- 
position of simple Attic prose which is here recommended. 



6o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

The committee farther recommends that exercises in the reading of 
unprepared passages (commonly known as sight reading) be begun at the 
outset of the Greek course and be continued thru it. Exercises in 
the reading of unprepared passages of Greek enable the teacher to dis- 
cern, and so to meet, the pupil's difficulties in the interpretation of a new 
sentence. Very many freshmen seem to have pursued a wrong method 
of seeking to gain the understanding of a Greek sentence which a little 
reading of unprepared passages in the class-room would enable the 
teacher to detect, and perhaps to remedy. If the pupil comes to the 
teacher only with work carefully prepared with the aid of lexicon and 
commentary, the teacher may not discover some of the pupil's weak- 
nesses, and may not understand his difficulties. These exercises also 
give the pupil readiness in translation and a feeling of mastery over the 
newly acquired language. Rapid reading, as well as exact interpretation, 
is necessary to true scholarship. 

The practice of reading Greek aloud with intelligent expression is 
warmly recommended by the committee. This aids materially in the 
treatment of Greek as a living language, and, so far as the acquisition of 
forms and vocabulary is concerned, the voice is as important for the 
teachers of Greek and Latin as for those of German and French. Careful 
attention should be paid to the quantity of the syllables, since the rhythm, 
not only of the poets, but also of the great orators, was based upon this 
quantity. 

In the Greek preparatory course small opportunity can arise for 
question as to what shall be read, and in what order. Altho Xenophon's 
style is now known to be not absolutely pure Attic, yet no Greek reading 
better than the Anabasis has been found for the second year of the Greek 
course. Some teachers, however, may prefer to read only two books of 
the Anabasis, and make up from other works of Xenophon, or from other 
authors, the equivalent of the third and fourth books of the Anabasis, 

In order to secure a much-desired uniformity, colleges have been 
requested by several commissions and associations to base their examina- 
tions in Greek grammar and composition (in distinction from the ability 
to read Greek and translate it) on the first two books of the Anabasis. 

The committee, finally, recommends that Homer be read in the last 
year of the preparatory course. From one point of view the pupil ought 
to continue the study of Attic prose without interruption during the third 
year of his Greek course, without being introduced to another Greek 
dialect. But for the sake of those students who take Greek in the 
secondary school, but do not go to college, and as an inspiration to the 
scholars who are at an age to be thoroly interested in the Homeric poems, 
the teachers of secondary schools are almost unanimous in their desire 
that the third year of the three-year Greek course should be given mainly 
to Homer. The best pupils feel Homer to be literature, and so get an 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 6 1 



enticing foretaste of what awaits them in the reading of the college 
course. Some teachers prefer to begin Homer with the reading of the 
early books of the Iliad; others prefer the Odyssey ; others would read the 
Iliad onQ year and the Odyssey another. Most colleges allow an option 
between equivalents, in order to give the fullest freedom to the secondary 
schools. 

COURSE OF STUDY RECOMMENDED IN GREEK 
{Five periods weekly thruoui the three years) 

FIRST YEAR 

First and second terms : Introductory lessons. 
Third term : Xenophon's Anabasis (20 to 30 pages). 

Practice in reading at sight and in writing Greek. 

Systematic study of grammar begun. 

SECOND YEAR 

Xenophon's ^;«a<5am (continued), either alone or with other Attic prose (75 to 120 
pages). 

Practice in reading at sight, systematic study of grammar, thoro grammatical review, 
and practice in writing Greek, both based on study of Books I and II of the Anabasis. 

THIRD YEAR 

Homer (2,500 to 4,000 lines); e. g., Iliad, I-lII (omitting II, 494-end), and 
VI-VIII. 

Attic prose (33 to 40 pages), with practice in writing Greek ; grammar ; practice in 
reading at sight. 

Note. — If preparation for an advanced examination in Greek composition is not desired, the course may 
be reduced by one lesson a week for the first year. 

III. LATIN COURSES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

The determining factor in constructing a course in Latin in any 
of our high schools, academies, or private schools is practically the 
amount of time which can be allowed to that study, in view of the claims 
of other studies and the length of the school course. The ordinary 
arrangement is that of the four-year course of five exercises weekly. The 
average age of pupils at the beginning of the course is between fourteen 
and fifteen years. This four-year course is commonly the standard in our 
high schools and academies. There are schools, however, which are 
unable to allow four years to Latin, and these, as a rule, provide a three- 
year course. In a considerable number of schools, on the other hand, a 
five-year or a six-year course is to be found. The tendency to lengthen 
the Latin course beyond four years is clearly becoming stronger. This 
tendency did not receive its initial impulse from the colleges and 
universities, but manifests rather the characteristics of a spontaneous 
movement on the part of principals and teachers in secondary schools. 
It had its origin in a growing conviction that the ends of education, 
at least in the earlier stages, are best subserved by the concentration 
of effort upon a limited number of leading studies, properly correlated, 



62 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

rather than by the scattering of energies over an indefinite range of 
loosely related subjects. The lengthening of the Latin course is accom- 
plished, however, not by keeping the pupil at school longer, but by having 
him begin Latin earlier. The old four-year course in many places has 
been extended downward one or two years ; and it is, in fact, in this way that 
most of the five-year and six-year courses have been established. Such is 
clearly the rational procedure, both because of the better results obtained 
with pupils who begin Latin early, and because of the undesirability, 
if not the impossibility, of securing the additional Latin by keeping 
pupils at school beyond the age at which they now usually complete the 
course. 

The problem, therefore, which is likely to be encountered by every 
school that has to face the question of the extension of its Latin course 
is the problem of having Latin begun one or more years earlier than at 
present, and of using the additional time upon a rationally coherent plan. 
As a four-year or five-year course is extended, here and there in different 
parts of the country, into a six-year course, and even as a three-year course 
is extended into a four-year course, it is desirable that the extension be 
accomplished according to some common understanding. In the case 
of schools which do not purpose to extend the course in length, but 
desire to use the present available time to better advantage, it is perhaps 
even more important that the inner modifications which may be introduced 
without additional expenditure of time should likewise be made in 
accordance with a common plan. 

In taking up the first problem — the problem presented by the varia- 
tion in length of Latin courses — the committee was forced to regard the 
four-year course of five exercises a week as the only available general 
standard, for the reason that, as has been said, it corresponds, more nearly 
than any other, to the actual practice of the majority of American schools. 
The three-year course was considered as an incomplete four-year course, 
and was not treated as a separately existing type. Consequently no 
attempt was made to present a model three-year course, for it was assumed 
that three-year courses, if constructed, would be formed out of elements 
of the four-year course. Then a six-year course was framed, containing 
everything in the four-year course, together with such amplifications and 
additions as would render the six-year course a rationally connected 
whole. The five-year course, being intermediate between the four-year 
and the six-year courses, appeared in one aspect as an extension of the 
four-year course, and in another as on uncompleted six-year course. 
Inasmuch as, in many instances, the conversion of a four-year into a six- 
year course might be made, not by establishing a six-year course imme- 
diately, but by passing thru a transitional five-year course, it seemed best 
to draw up a five-year course in such a manner that it would serve as 
a transition from the four-year to the six-year course, and would at 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 63 

the same time preserve its own rational unity, so that schools which might 
never attain to a six-year course should nevertheless find all the parts of 
a five-year course thoroly co-ordinated with one another. 

Moreover, since schools with younger pupils naturally find it better 
to spend more time on the elements, while schools with older and 
presumably maturer pupils may prefer to do a larger amount of reading, 
the five-year course has been drawn up in a double form, with this 
alternative in view; but in either form jt will serve as a logical transition 
from the four-year to the six-year course, and likewise as a course complete 
in itself. The proposed arrangement, whereby it was made possible for 
schools to devote either four, five, or six years to Latin in accordance with 
a common plan, traveling the same road together, and parting company 
only where one stops and another goes on, will greatly reduce the practical 
difficulties arising from the present lack of uniformity in the length of 
Latin courses. 

In dec ling with the second problem, that of using to better advantage 
the time now allowed to Latin, thru inner modification of the existing 
cour e of study without increase of length, the committee found it 
necessary to construct, piece by piece, a standard course. Again the 
four-year course of five exercises a week had to be assumed as a standard. 
This number of exercises forms a fourth of the usual school week of 
about twenty periods. The proportion of time thus assumed for Latin corre- 
sponds closely, as has already been intimated, with the present practice of 
most of the schools possessing a four-year course. For some of them 
such a standard would represent an increase, the a very slight one, 
beyond the amount of time now given. A standard of five exercises 
weekly for four years is, therefore, a practicable one for most of the schools 
that now give four years to Latin. 

This amount of time being assumed as available, or obtainable with- 
out great effort, the next question which confronted the committee was to 
determine what subjects should be included in the four-year Latin course, 
how far each should be carried, and in what order they should be taken 
up. It would have been an easy task to draw up an inflexible program 
based solely on theoretical considerations ; but such a program would 
show little wisdom. The only course left open to the committee was to 
endeavor to find a feasible way of improving upon our present practice, 
keeping constantly in mind the limitations prescribed by existing condi- 
tions. The stock and staple of our Latin instruction in the existing foijr- 
year courses consists of Latin grammar — usually taught in the form of 
Latin lessons — Latin prose composition, four or five books of Caesar's 
Gallic War or some equivalent, six orations of Cicero, and six books of 
Virgil's ^neid. These may be taken as constituting a substantially irre- 
ducible minimum. Most schools having a four-year course do as much 
as this ; some do a good deal more, many a little more. The contents of 



64 'NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

this minimum enter solidly into college-entrance requirements thruout 
the country, and the propriety of regarding them as essential elements 
in any Latin program will not be questioned. At times, indeed, some 
opposition has been made to the study of Caesar, as too difficult for stu- 
dents' in the second year of the course. But this objection loses its 
validity when the study of Caesar is preceded by the reading of an ade- 
quate amount of simple Latin, as recommended in the program below. 
At all events, the objection suggested may be met by allowing an equiva- 
lent from some easier author to be offered for a part of the Commenta- 
ries; to omit Caesar entirely would be a retrograde step in the framing of 
Latin programs. Apart from this question with regard to the availability 
of Caesar, no serious difference of opinion exists. If, then, we assume 
that Latin grammar, Latin composition, some easy reading, four or five 
books of Caesar (with a partial equivalent allowed), six orations of Cicero, 
and six books of Virgil may be considered as forming the assured basis 
of a standard four-year course, the question at once arises whether this 
is all that should enter into such a course. It has already been said that 
these subjects represent nothing more than the average practice of the 
majority of schools with four-year courses, and something less than many 
such schools are actually giving — and that, too, without being able to 
allow quite as much time as five exercises weekly thruout the four years. 
To accept this substantially irreducible minimum found in the great 
majority of four-year courses, without adding anything to allow for the 
extra work now actually done in many places, and without taking account 
of the present marked tendency to increase the amount of Latin taught, 
would be equivalent to the proposing of a standard actually lower than 
our present practice. Accordingly it is necessary to strengthen the pro- 
posed standard four-year course to an extent which will make it some- 
what better than some of the existing four-year courses ; otherwise no 
proper model will be presented, in conformity with which our present'four- 
year courses may be made not only more nearly uniform, but also a little 
better intrinsically. The small increment thus desired may be added in 
either of two ways. One is by an increase of the amount of work in the 
present subjects — a little more grammar, or easy reading, or prose com- 
position, or Caesar, or Cicero, or Virgil. The other is by increasing the 
variety and interest of the course by adding other subjects. There is 
merit in both methods, and neither is to be generally recommended to 
the entire exclusion of the other. In laying out a four-year course with 
five exercises weekly, it will be found practicable to take advantage of 
both methods. The desired increment, if it is to be obtained without 
adding to the list of existing subjects, may be secured by devoting more 
time to the grammar lessons, the written prose exercises, and the easy 
reading which precedes and prepares for the reading of Caesar, Cicero, 
and Virgil ; or it may be secured by an increase in the amount of reading 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 65 

in the works of one or more of these authors, provided it always is 
understood that, in case a school cannot both improve the quality of the 
more elementary work and at the same time read the maximum quantity 
suggested in any or all of the authors, it is better to do with thoroness 
the elementary grammar, written prose exercises, and easy reading, and 
to read the minimum amounts of the authors, than to sacrifice in any 
degree the earlier and fundamental work. 

But in many schools, for various reasons — principally the desire foi 
greater variety to enliven the interest of pupils — other authors are intro- 
duced in addition to Csesar, Cicero, and Virgil. Many teachers favor 
Cornelius Nepos for easy reading just before Caesar, or in place of a part 
of the Commentaries. The plan proposed by the committee, while not 
giving Nepos a fixed place, leaves ample room for such use as has been 
indicated. Selections from Eutropius, Florus, and the Fables may, of 
course, be employed, or the useful *' made-Latin" of Lhomond's Viri 
Romae. The committee, however, does not find it expedient to recom- 
mend any one of these classes of material, or any special combination of 
them, as a fixed part of a course. They may all be made to serve one 
purpose, and, while uniformity may appear desirable at this point, it is by 
no means essential. 

In the list of authors two additions are proposed — the Catiline of 
Sallust arid a small amount of Ovid Sallust, indeed, has of late years 
been less read in schools than formerly, but there are excellent reasons in 
favor of this author. His Catiline forms the best bridge over the gap 
between Csesar and Cicero. Even young pupils find it attractive. It is not 
too hard. It helps to illustrate from a different angle of vision the intensely 
interesting age to which Csesar and Cicero also belong. Its fine portrai- 
tures and graphic style give it merited rank as a classical masterpiece. 
And, finally, it is so brief that, while adding little to the amount read, it 
affords a special satisfaction in that it enables the young student to com- 
plete an entire work, instead of constantly occupying himself with selec- 
tions ; while at the same time it introduces variety into his reading. Hav- 
ing made the acquaintance of Caesar, Sallust, and Cicero, the pupil has 
gained a considerable knowledge of the golden age of Latin prose — the 
foundation of all his subsequent study of the literature — as well as of the 
most important period of Roman history, that immediately preceding 
the downfall of the republic. In like manner the study of Ovid forms a 
useful preparation for the reading of Virgil. Even a few hundred lines 
will serve to give variety to the poetical reading of the student, and 
enhance his appreciation of the golden age of Roman poetry, the period 
of Augustus, which forms the literary as well as the historical sequel to 
the great republican period. 

It will be seen that a preference is here indicated for a particular order 
of authors : first, the prose writers of the republic, represented by Caesar, 



66 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

Sallust, and Cicero ; and then the poets of the Augustan age, repre- 
sented by Ovid and Virgil. The prose writers give the normal syntax 
and the general standards of literary expression, thus providing the 
young student with the proper foundation for all subsequent study of the 
language. The poets selected not only belong to a later age than the 
prose writers named, but are read with greater ease and profit after the 
student's knowledge of prose usages is established. A further considera- 
tion in favor of the order recommended may be found in the relation of 
the authors read to the exercises in prose composition. Prose composition 
should be taught thru the whole four years of the course, and the exercises 
should be formed upon the best prose models. In the program of the first 
year provision is made for easy written exercises in connection with lessons 
in grammar. In that of the second year the Latin writing will naturally 
be based on Caesar. If Cicero is read in the third year, the Latin writing 
will, of course, be based on Cicero, and may continue to be based upon 
this author in the fourth year, even if poetry be read exclusively. If, on 
the other hand, Virgil is read in the third year, it will be difficult to main- 
tain the course in Latin writing, in either that or the following year, on as 
high a level as is possible under the other arrangement. Still, the fact 
remains that there is a division of opinion upon this one phase of the sub- 
ject. In many schools Virgil is read before Cicero. If the adoption of a 
model four-year Latin course were to turn upon this one point of the order 
in which the two authors should be read, probably no agreement would be 
reached. It is, of course, more important that the two authors be read, 
in whatever order, than that the order of the reading should be uniform. 
It is also important that the reading of additional writers, such as Sallust 
and Ovid, shall not be made to depend upon any considerations of 
order. In the four-year course outlined below, the last two years are 
mainly occupied with Sallust, Cicero, Ovid, and Virgil. The order in 
which these four authors are placed in the program indicates the clear 
preference of the committee, reached after extended conference with 
representative schoolmen in the auxiliary committees ; while, on the other 
hand, the omission of any line of separation between the third and fourth 
years is intended to express the recognition, on the part of the committee, 
of the existence of differing opinions on the subject. 

The arrangement of the earlier part of the four-year course naturally 
involves several questions connected with the methods to be pursued in 
the elementary study of the subject. The work of the earliest stage must, 
of course, be mainly disciplinary. The study of grammar gives acquaint- 
ance with the forms and laws of the language, and the progressive 
acquisition of vocabulary gives the material for reading, while easy 
exercises in the writing of Latin prose and training in simple reading 
organize this material again under the forms and laws of grammar. It is 
assumed that these principles govern all sound elementary teaching in the 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 67 

subject. At the same time emphasis needs to be laid on the spirit and 
perspective characterizing this earlier work. Easy reading should be begun 
at the earliest possible moment. The writing of easy sentences, even if 
consisting of only three or four words, should be commenced at the very 
outset, and out of this writing should be developed gradually the fuller 
practice in connected expression which ought to be continued thru the 
entire course. In all written exercises, of whatever kind, the long vowels 
should be marked. There should be abundant practice in reading Latin 
aloud, pains being taken to make the pronunciation conform to the 
quantities ; while, at the same time, great emphasis should be laid upon 
intelligent expression. The student should be carefully trained to take in 
the meaning of the sentence in the order in which it stands, and before trans- 
lating. The English of the translation, too, should be genuine English, not 
Z^/m-English. As a help to the pupil's understanding, he should memorize 
short prose passages, maxims, and bits of poetry. These will remain with 
him, and will ever afterward contribute to his enjoyment of the classics. 

The proposed standard four-year course has been drawn upon the 
basis of these convictions. It has not, to be sure, been the intention to 
represent our present practice without change ; and we accordingly can 
hardly expect that all of the schools which give four years to Latin will 
immediately adopt the course as it stands. In the case of most schools, 
however, it seems reasonable to look forward to the acceptance of as 
strong a program as is here given, even if only the minimum amounts of 
the authors recommended shall be read. The plan is proposed as a 
model toward which all our present .four-year courses can be made to 
approach closely, and thus to conform to one another in a degree which 
in no other way seems possible of attainment. Tho uniformity in the 
particular parts of the authors read may be desirable, no recommendation 
is made in this respect, except in the case of Sallust's Catiline. Teachers 
naturally will not be in perfect agreement in regard to the particular 
books of Caesar and orations of Cicero which they would prefer to have 
their classes read. In most cases the selection is influenced by tradition, 
and, in any event, it is impossible to arrive at uniformity, for the reason 
that many teachers prefer to make changes from year to year. In relation 
to college- entrance requirements, however, this diversity occasions no 
especial difficulty, because the colleges are inclined more and more to be 
liberal in accepting equivalents. 

Embodying in a program the suggestions which have been offered, 
we obtain the following standard four-year Latin course : 
PROPOSED FOUR-YEAR LATIN COURSE 
{Five periods weekly thruout the four years) 

FIRST YEAR 

Latin lessons, accompanied from an early stage by the reading of simple selections. 
Easy reading : twenty to thirty*pages of a consecutive text. 



68 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

In all written exercises the long vowels should be marked, and in all oral exercises 
pains should be taken to make the pronunciation conform to the quantities. 

The student should be trained from the beginning to grasp the meaning of the 
Latin before translating, and then to render into idiomatic English ; and should be taught 
to read the Latin aloud with intelligent expression. 

SECOND YEAR 

Selections from Caesar's Gallic War equivalent in amount to four or five books; 
selections from other prose writers, such as Nepos, may be taken as a substitute for one, 
or at most two, books. 

The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Caesar. 

Reading aloud and translating, together with training in correct methods of appre- 
hending the author's meaning, both prepared and unprepared passages being used as 
material. The memorizing of selected passages. 

THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS 

Sallust's Catiline.^ 

Cicero : six to nine orations (including the De Imperio Cn. Pompeii). 

Ovid : 500 to 1,500 verses. 

Virgil's yEneid: six to nine books. 

The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Cicero. 

The reading of Latin aloud. The memorizing of selected passages. 

The bearing which the adoption of a standard four-year course would 
have on college-entrance requirements is obvious. The minimum 
amounts proposed — consisting of Latin grammar, prose composition, 
four books of Caesar, Sallust's Catiline, six orations of Cicero, a little 
Ovid, and six books of Virgil — may easily be accepted as a fixed mini- 
mum entrance requirement. 

The question may be raised whether the proposed standard four-year 
course is sufficiently elastic in the choice of subjects. If it is not, it is in 
so far impracticable. Nevertheless, if a standard is made too elastic, its 
value as a standard is destroyed. American schools exhibit a marked 
diversity, such as, perhaps, will not be found in the schools of all Europe. 
This striking individuality is not a thing to be rashly denounced or 
unduly discouraged. It is in accord with our diversified and free Ameri- 
can life. But in the case of our schools, and of our colleges too, the 
individuality is certainly excessive, and detrimental to the interests of 
scholar and teacher alike. The effect upon the colleges produced by this 
individuality on the part of the schools may be imagined when it is 
remembered that a single class in one of the former is sure to contain 
students from a large number of the latter. The differences in our Latin 
programs ought not to be so great as to preclude agreement upon a list 
of fundamental subjects, their general order of presentation, and their 
mode of treatment. The line between tolerable and intolerable differ- 
ences may, like some other boundary lines, be impossible to draw with 

I The Committee on College-Entrance Requirements adds the word "selections" after Sallust's 
Catiline. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 69 

precision ; yet, even when we cannot draw exact boundaries, it is usually 
possible to distinguish regions, and to define, and even reduce, the area 
under dispute. Such disagreement as actually exists in the present 
instance is mainly the result merely of particular preferences in matters 
of detail. The principal difference, as already mentioned, concerns the 
reading of Csesar; but the difficulty occasioned by the difference is met, 
in the proposals of the committee, partly by the suggestion of an equiva- 
lent for a part of Csesar in the program of the school, and partly by the 
willingness of colleges to accept still other equivalents at the entrance 
examinations. There is also a minor difference of opinion in relation to 
the use of Sallust and Ovid ; but, with these exceptions, there is no 
important disagreement regarding the minimum amounts. Where so 
much is unanimously approved, and where the preponderating weight of 
opinion is strongly fixed in regard to even the mildly disputed points, it 
is certainly time to agree upon a minimum standard for gradual imita- 
tion, especially when the proposed standard is homogeneously consistent, 
and embodies a fundamental principle. 

Up to this point the question of flexibility has remained untouched, 
but agreement as to the mode of attaining flexibility has been made pos- 
sible. In the framing of a standard course, the committee found itself 
concerned, not so much with the question whether it should recommend 
more or fewer subjects, but whether it should recommend a greater or 
less amount of each subject. In the case of grammar and prose compo- 
sition, it was recognized that the determination of the amount of ground 
to be covered must be left to the individual teacher; tho the committee 
is clearly of the opinion that the systematic study of both of these sub- 
jects should be carried thru the entire course. As regards the ground to 
be covered in the authors, while it is desirable that as much reading as 
possible should be done, nevertheless thoroness should never be sacrificed 
to quantity. Only a moderate range of variation is, therefore, suggested 
— which amounts, for example, to a single book in the case of Csesar, 
three orations in the case of Cicero, a thousand lines in the case of Ovid, 
and three books in the case of Virgil. This additional reading can be 
done rapidly, if the earlier work in the authors has been sufficiently accu- 
rate and painstaking. It may not be expedient for all schools at once to 
read the maximum amounts suggested. But the program presented pos- 
sesses the advantage of conforming closely, in the statement of maxi- 
mums, to the actual practice of many schools — a practice which is not 
beyond the attainment of any school that is able to devote five exercises 
weekly to Latin for four years — -while in the statement of minimums it 
presents a standard easily reached under almost any conditions. 

The committee, however, would not have been justified in limiting its 
attention to the problems presented by the four-year course. It was sur- 
prised to find in how many schools five-yea and six-year cour'^es are in 



70 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

actual operation today. The demand seemed imperative that it should 
undertake to formulate courses extending beyond the four-year limit. It 
has accordingly presented a five-year course, drawn in double form. The 
first form is the standard four-year course, with the work of the first year 
extended over two years in order to give twice the amount of time for 
grammar lessoris, the writing of simple exercises, and easy readmg. This 
form is intended to meet the needs of students who commence Latin a 
year earlier than in the ordinary four-year course. All educational expe- 
rience shows that the best results may be secured from the study of Latin 
when the subject is commenced somewhat earlier than is usual in this 
country, and at least two years are given to the elementary work before 
the pupil begins the reading of Nepos or Csesar.' The second form is 
designed for schools which have more mature and stronger pupils. The 
work of the first four years of this course coincides with that of the four- 
year standard course ; the additional year is devoted mainly to reading. 
The recommendation is made that Virgil's ^^/^"/^ be completed, in order 
that pupils who have the time for a five-year course may enjoy the satis- 
faction of reading the greatest Latin epic to the end, and viewing it as 
an artistic whole. An additional amount of Cicero is also recommended : 
the two essays On Old Age and On Friendship, which are short and com- 
plete in themselves, together with some of the briefer and more interest- 
ing Letters. Thus the pupil's acquaintance with Cicero's many-sided 
literary and intellectual accomplishments will be extended, while the 
selections suggested will furnish the best possible model of style for the 
writing of Latin in the latter part of the course. 

A six-year course may be established at once by introducing Latin 
into the last two years of the grammar schools ; such was the method 
adopted in the city of Chicago. Or a six-year course may be developed 
out of the five-year course, thru the use of either of the forms which 
have been suggested. In either case it is obviously desirable to aim at a 
fair degree of uniformity in such courses, and thus avoid for them the 
inconveniences from which our present four-year courses suffer. In the 
six-year course, at any rate, fwo years can be given to that careful and 
thoro preparation for reading which not only forms the best foundation 
for all later work in Latin, but also constitutes, for this period of the 
student's education, the most effective instrument of training in exact 
habits of thought and of expression. If two years are given to this sort 
of work, most of the difficulties felt by the young pupil in entering upon 
the study of Csesar will have been anticipated and overcome. Thus 
arranged, the first five years of the six-year course and the five-year course 
in the first form presented will be identical in respect of the subjects 
taken up and the order of arrangement. The work of the sixth year will 
then correspond closely with that of the last year of the five-year course 
as given in the second form ; that is, it will be devoted to the finishing of 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 7 I 

the u^neid, to the reading of Cicero's essays On Old Age and On Friendship, 
and of selected Letters, and two weekly exercises in prose composition 
based on Cicero. As in the case of the five-year course, the principal 
object should be, not to extend widely the range of authors taken up, 
but so to adjust the work of the course to the needs of the pupil's intel- 
lectual life as most effectively to promote his development at this period. 
In a number of cities it has been thought advantageous to give two years 
of Latin in the grammar school rather than one. The reason is that, 
since the length of the high-school course, by common consent, remains 
fixed at four years, the study of Latin for only a single year before 
entrance into the high school is not only less fruitful in itself, but is also 
less easily adjusted to the other studies of the grammar-school course. 
The arrangement is also found to be advantageous from the point of view 
of the adjustment of the grammar-school and high-school courses to each 
other. In a city in which two years are given to Latin in the grammar 
school, the high school also will undoubtedly continue to give a four- 
year course. Pupils, then, who come up from the grammar schools with 
two years of Latin will in the high school find it possible to enter 
upon work which corresponds with that of the third, fourth, and fifth 
years of the six-year course, and will need to be taught separately from 
other high-school students only in the sixth year of their Latin study ; 
in other words, immediately upon entering the high school they may be 
united with the second-year students in the four-year course. In large 
high schools separate sections need to be formed in any case for each 
Latin class, and probably it will be found advantageous to teach the stu- 
dents of the six-year course by themselves. In like manner, the adjust- 
ment of a six-year or five-year course to an already existing four-year 
course will be found easy in the case of academies and private schools. 

A plan by which the work of the four-year Latin course may be 
correlated with that of the six-year course is indicated in the following 
diagram : 



72 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



SIX-YEAR COURSE 



Next-to-iUii grade in grammar 

school 

First year of Latin 



Last grade in grammar school 
Second year of Latin 



First year in high school 
Third year of Latin 



Second year in high school 
Fourth year of Latin 



Third year in high school 
Fifth year of Latin 



Fourth year in high school 
Sixth year of Latin 



FOUR-YEAR COURSE 



First year in high school 
First year of Latin 



Second year in high school 
Second year of Latin 



Third year in high school 
Third year of Latin 



Fourth year in high school 
Fourth year of Latin 



Led by the considerations which have been briefly presented above, 
the committee, after careful deliberation, has framed the three programs 
subjoined : one for a four-year course, one for a five-year course (in two 
forms), and one for a six-year course. We commend these programs to 
the consideration of the schools, hoping that they may not only be found 
convenient as standard or model courses, but may also contribute to the 
general advancement of sound education in the United States. 

FOUR-YEAR LATIN COURSE 

{Five periods weekly thruout the four years^ 

FIRST YEAR 

Latin lessons, accompanied from an early stage by the reading of very simple selec- 
tions. Easy reading : twenty to thirty pages of consecutive text. 

In all written exercises the long vowels should be marked, and in all oral exercises 
pains should be taken to make the pronunciation conform to the quantities. 

The student should be trained from the beginning to grasp the meaning of the Latin 
before translating, and then to render into idiomatic English ; and should be taught to 
read the Latin aloud with intelligent expression, 

SECOND YEAR 

Selections from Caesar's Gallic War equivalent in amount to four or five books ; 
selections from other prose writers, such as Nepos, may be taken as a substitute for an 
amount up to, but not exceeding, two books. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 73 

The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Caesar, 
Reading aloud and translating, together with training in correct methods of appre- 
hending the author's meaning, both prepared and unprepared passages being used as 
material. The memorizing of selected passages. 

THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS 

Sallust's Catiline. 

Cicero : six to nine orations (including the Manilian Law). 
Ovid : 500 to 1,500 verses. 
Virgil's ^neid; six to nine books. 

The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on 
Cicero. 

The reading of Latin aloud. The memorizing of selected passages. 

FIVE-YEAR LATIN COURSE 
FIRST FORM 
{^Five periods weekly thruout the five years) 

FIRST AND SECOND YEARS 

The same as the first year of the four-year course. 

THIRD YEAR 

The same as the second year of the four-year course. 

FOURTH AND FIFTH YEARS 

The same as the third and fourth years of the four-year course. 

FIVE-YEAR LATIN COURSE 
SECOND FORM 
{^Five periods weekly thruout the five years) 

FIRST YEAR 

The same as the first year of the four-year course. 

SECOND YEAR 

The same as the second year of the four-year course. 

THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS 

The same as the third and fouth years of the four-year course. 

FIFTH YEAR 
Virgil's yEneid: completed. 

Cicero : De Senectute and De Amicitia; selected Letters. 

The equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Cicero. 
The reading of Latin aloud. The memorizing of selected passages. 

SIX-YEAR LATIN COURSE 

{Five periods weekly thruout the six years) 

FIRST AND SECOND YEARS 

The same as the first year of the four-year course. 

THIRD YEAR 

The same as the second year of the four-year course. 

FOURTH AND FIFTH YEARS 

The same as the third and fourth years of the four-year course 

SIXTH YEAR 

Virgil's jfEneid: completed. 

Cicero : De Senectute and De Amicitia; selected Letters. 

The -equivalent of at least one period a week in prose composition based on Cicero. 

The reading of Latin aloud. The memorizing of selected passages. 



74 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



w 

o 
u 

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CO 




< 

1 i 

1 ^ 

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o 

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Latin lessons. 

Easy reading. 

Written exercises. 

Training in understanding the Latin be- 
fore translating. 


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Oi) 

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Third year 

Caesar: 4 or s books (an equivalent ac- 
cepted for I or 2 books). 
Prose composition based on Caesar. 
The reading of Latin aloud. 
Training in translation, etc. 
The memorizing of selected passages 


Fourth and fifth years 
Sallust's Catiline. 
Cicero : 6 to 9 Orations. 
Ovid: 500 to 1,500 verses. 
Virgil's Mneid: 6 to 9 books. 
Prose composition based on Cicero. 
The reading of Latin aloud. 
The memorizing of selected passages 


Sixth year 

Virgil's Mneid completed. 

Cicero: De Senectute and De Ami- 

citia; selected Letters. 
Prose composition based on Cicero. 
The reading of Latin aloud. 
The memorizing of selected passages. 


W 

< 
> 

> 


First year 

AGE OF BEGINNERS ABOUT THIRTEEN YEARS 

Latin lessons. 

Easy reading. 

Written exercises. 

Training in understanding the Latin 

before translating. 
The reading of Latin aloud. 


Second year 

Caesar: 4 or 5 books (an equivalent 

accepted for i or 2 books). 
Prose composition based on Caesar. 
The reading of Latin aloud. 
Training in translation, etc. 
The memorizing of selected passages. 


Third and fourth years 
Sallust's Catiline. 
Cicero : 6 to 9 Orations. 
Ovid: 500 to 1,500 verses. 
Virgil's Mneid: 6 to 9 books. 
Prose composition based on Cicero. 
The reading of Latin aloud. 
The memorizing of selected passages. 


Fifth year 

Virgil's Mneid completed. 

Cicero: De Senectute and De Ami- 

citia; selected Letters. 
Prose composition based on Cicero. 
The reading of Latin aloud. 
The memorizing of selected passages. 


8 

-< 

> 

> 


First and second years 

AGE OF BEGINNERS ABOUT THIRTEEN YEARS 

Latin lessons. 

Easy reading. 

Written exercises. 

Training in understanding the Latin 
before translating. 

The reading of Latin aloud. 


Third year 

C^sar: 4 or 5 books (an equivalent 

accepted for i or 2 books). 
Prose composition based on Caesar, 
The reading of Latin aloud. 
Training in translating, etc. 
The memorizing of selected passages. 


Fourth and fifth years 
Sallust's Catiline. 
Cicero: 6 to 9 Orations. 
Ovid : 500 to 1,500 verses. 
Virgil's Mneid: 6 to 9 books. 
Prose composition based on Cicero. 
The reading of Latin aloud. 
The memorizing of selected passages. 




1 
8 

2 


First year 

AGE OF BEGINNERS ABOUT FOURTEEN 
YEARS 

Latin lessons. 

Easy reading. 

Written exercises. 

Training in understanding the Latin 

before translating. 
The reading of Latin aloud. 


Second year 

Caesar: 4 or 5 books (an equiva- 
lent accepted for i or 2 books) . 

Prose composition based on Caesar. 

The reading of Latin aloud. 

Training in translating, etc. 

The memorizing of selected pas- 
sages. 


Third and fourth years 

Sallust's Catiline. 

Cicero: 6 to 9 Oratiotts. 

Ovid: 500 to 1,500 verses. 

Virgil's Mneid: 6 to 9 books. 

Prose composition based on Cicero. 

The reading of Latin aloud. 

The memorizing of selected pas- 
sages. 




5 


ro 


h 




tn 




t^ CO 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 



75 



APPENDLX B 

ON THE ENROLLMENT OF PUPILS IN THE VARIOUS STUDIES IN THE PUBLIC AND 
PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE YEARS 189O--98 

Chap, xl of the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for iBqb-qy (Washington, 
1898) is devoted to the statistics of secondary schools, and contains comparative tables showing the percentages 
of pupils in the principal studies for each year from 1890 to 1897. In order to be able to exhibit the numerical 
totals as well as the percentages, and to bring the figures down to 1898, a member of the committee addressed 
an inquiry to Hon, William T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, who furnished the appended 
statistical table : 



1-1 
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Per 
cent. 

to 
total 


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Tj- in Tj- w N inco -"i- -^ in cn^ mvo m o^ vo -^ 


c> 4 d 4 invo N 4 d CO 4 4 d^ m lAco c^ m 


1 n 


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<» '^,, =^ "„ '^ "v: "^ ^ t'^, t "^""^ '^ '1-°°. °°- °-°°- 
4 4 4oo'o(ro^ t^in4rocC4inN dinm o-oo 
iS ^iNini>O^M(NMTt-rn(NvooONM Om 


1 ^ 




H ooo\o c< ^00 o> 000 Th moo M 00 ; 00 : 
0^0 o^r^M !N 00000 M\o 000 t-> . . 
00 4 d> m 4vd m4dd>44d>rnro" vd ' 
Tf Mines wMOm.m; 




vo in^ HOOooo^mmHoo^iNOOC>'- w ■ 

\ ^~ ? ? ^^, §^^. ? t: ? ?! § ^^ i '^ : 

H '^ ? 10 t^oo rnli*c!?o-<fN(NinMt^j 00 • 


f 
1 




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(N.nMSTi-t.HH0OM(y<NO0O<s . ■:■. 


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I 1 

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H Mmm(N4(Nm(N-i-inT)-rr, m^ n ■ • 


r^ tntNO^-+oinin lovo ■*• w m h 00 t-^ • •* • 

00 NO) -*^ vO<NHNO-<f(NCNinHin- t^- 


4 



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vD ro r~-oo Owu-ii^vinH-.i-(Nmi/"ii-' I ml 
t^t-^t^in-^mNNMroTi-inomm . -0 . 


ro-^ON c^ Tj-rninw 0-0 moo m m • ■* ; 




^o vo o-^o M 10 m m 00 tv -"f-^o -+ t^ n • vo • 

:?: gt?^Sv^cS?v§^^v8 2^^v^v^ : S: 

T^ N Nm hmhH.m. 




PL, W ■" 


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inovmr^t^Noo .Om t>.. 

m 4 d d m' in ro ; 4 d ; ; ; ; ; ; in ; 


1; ^ 

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0^ COrOtNC^rOTfO'^O O^' 

1- ovint^inMinO • t^vo ro • 

qv ooroq_HOOin-(yo ••••;; <>• 
t^ t^ d N d in m in ■ tC N ■ t '• t '. ". in ' 
t- (N ■* in M M ■ a< -"1- • ; • ■ • -* ■ 


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ro ■>!- in ■* ro 000 oo-Nin ci- 

vo' d^ tC invo t^vo' <S '■&■>?,'.'.'.'.'. '. 0- '■ 
in T)-Mrr-i->i-r-00H-t^ro m- 


1 


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00 vo mvo vomov^oo;;;'. !; m; 
00 4od M t:, N d d d : : : : : : h ; 


J3 C 


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g; 55^5, J?vS ^ : 8 g- : : : : ; : S : 

d M in d^ d^ dvo' 0" ■ i^ 4 ■.■.*'! ! vd" ■. 

j^ ro M (S rovo t-. w • rv ro ■ . . . . • • 


1 


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d>4d>indro -rod d-' 

ro H ^ N : N " • : : : : <n ; 


1 S 


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Ov ro ■* mvo ->*■. ThH o- 

ov ro4ooocr4i-r'"iH^d' *•••'• d^- 

(NMNTi-inc^-.ir^ro ■;•••• Ov- 


1 


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NNMOot-~r^::vo(N:::: ; ro: 

vO ro ■* ■* t-N . . rovo .... . 00 . 

ro 4 dv H d d • • M dv ci : 

ro h-*n;;n !!;; f<. 




Th TfovMoot->M;:-*in:::::: 0- '. 

ov -^vo ro Ovoo . . -"l-vo . 

00 H oo_^ q^ N ro t>. . .vOvD. 0; . 

c^ d" doo 4 tC dv • • rooo d" • 

ov H N ro n in : ; vo (s : ; ; ; ; : 00 ; 






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: : : : :^ . . : ^ « : : 



76 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



An examination of the Commissioner's report and these statistics brings to light the 
following interesting facts : 

1. In the nine years covered by the table the total enrollment of pupils in the second- 
ary schools of the United States has risen from 297,894 to 554,814. This is a gain of 86 
per cent,, a rate probably five times that of the increase in population. 

2. The remarkable increase just noted is found mainly in the high schools,^ the enroll- 
ment in which has increased from 202,963 to 409,443, a gain of more than 100 per cent. 
The enrollment in other secondary schools has risen from 94,931 to 107,633, a gain of only 
13.5 per cent., the rate of increase being about the same as that of the increase of 
population. 

3. The statistics show that in these nine years marked progress has been made toward 
the concentration of school work upon a few central studies, in place of the tendency 
toward scattering which was formerly manifest. The rate of increase in the number of 
students pursuing such studies as algebra, geometry, history, Latin, and German far exceeds 
the rate of increase in the total enrollment. This fact indicates that studies of central 
importance are receiving recognition of their proper place and value ; while other studies 
are being relegated to a secondary position or altogether excluded from the schools. 
" Many hundreds of schools, " says the Commissioner in his report, "which formerly 
offered courses of study made up of elementary and secondary branches, now confine their 
instruction strictly to high-school studies. This maybe seen in the steady increase in the 
proportion of students pursuing these secondary studies."' So, too, in the private schools 
there are " indications of the strengthening of the secondary courses of study as in the case 
of the public high schools. Mixed courses made up of elementary and secondary studies 
are being replaced by courses in which only secondary studies proper are included. The 
demand for a better preparation of students for college is being met by private schools 
of secondary grade in all parts of the country. " 3 

4. If now we arrange the studies of our table with statistics running from 1889-90 to 
1897-98 according to the rate of increase in the enrollment of students pursuing them in 
the period extending from 1889 to 1898, we have the following order : 



Studies 



1. Latin 

2. History (except U. S 

3. Geometry 

4. Algebra , 

5. German 

6. French 

7. Greek 

8. Physics 

9. Chemistry 



Enrollment in 
1889-90 



100,144 
82,909 
59.781 

127,397 
34,208 
28,032 
12,869 
63,644 
28,665 



Enrollment in 
1897-98 



274,293 

209,034 

147,515 

306,755 

78,994 

58,16s 

24,994 

113,650 

47,448 



Per cent, of 
increase 



174 — 
152 + 
147 — 
141 — 
131 — 
107 + 
94 + 
79 — 
65 + 



From these figures it appears that the study of Latin in the last eight years has 
gained in the enrollment of pupils at a rate greater than that of any other high-school 
study. The total gain of 174 percent, is more than double the percentage of increase in 
the total enrollment of pupils in the schools. While the enrollment of pupils in Latin 
has thus increased 174 per cent., the increase of enrollment in German has been 131 per 
cent., and in Greek 94 per cent. In the same period the increase in the enrollment in 
physics has been only 79 per cent., and in chemistry only 65 per cent., a percentage 
smaller than that of the increase in the total enrollment in the schools. 

1 The figures for this are given up to i8q7 In the Commissioner's Report, p. 1874. 

2 See Commissioner's Report, p. 1877. 

3 See the same, p. 1880. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 77 

5. It is at least encouraging to the friends of classical study to notice that in 1897-98 
almost one-half of all the pupils enrolled in the secondary schools ( 49.44 per cent.) were 
engaged in the study of Latin. With this general increase of interest in Latin studies 
undoubtedly will come also a fuller recognition of the importance of Greek as an educa- 
tional instrument. In the next decade an even more rapid increase in the enrollment of 
students in Greek may be expected than the very promising one of 94 per cent, reported 
for the period covered by the table. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF TWELVE OF THE 
MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA 



The committee appointed two years ago to make recommendations 
upon the subject of preparatory requirements in French and German 
has the honor to submit the following report : ' 

SECTION I. PRELIMINARY 

It will be remembered that the appointment of the committee grew 
out of a request of the National Educational Association, which has for 
some time been endeavoring to bring about a better regulation of second- 
ary instruction in the subjects usually required for admission to American 
colleges. In pursuing this laudable undertaking the National Edu- 
cational Association very properly saw fit to ask for the advice of various 
professional bodies, our own among the number. In particular, it was 
desired that we draw up model preparatory courses in French and Ger- 
man, and make recommendations concerning the practical management 
of these courses. The matter was brought to the attention of both 
branches of this association at the sessions of 1896, and we were asked to 
take appropriate action. As the business appeared to be of very great 
importance, it was thought best to turn it over to a large committee hav- 
ing a somewhat general mandate to investigate and report. The resolu- 
tion under which the committee was appointed reads as follows : 

That a committee of twelve be appointed (a) to consider the position of the modern 
languages in secondary education ; {b) to examine into and make recommendations upon 
methods of instruction, the training of teachers, and such other questions connected with 
the teaching of the modern languages in the secondary schools and the colleges as in the 
judgment of the committee may require consideration. 

* The report was submitted in December, 1898, to both branches of the Modern Lan- 
guage Association, but owing to its length it could not be read in its entirety. The 
chairman of the committee was accordingly directed to have the report printed and mailed 
to the members of the association, who would thus be in a position to consider the docu- 
ment intelligently and vote upon the question of its adoption at the session, or sessions, of 
December, 1899. At the same time permission was given to hand in the report, with the 
necessary explanation, to the Committee on College-Entrance Requirements of the 
National Educational Association. 



78 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

That this committee shall consist of the present president of the association, Profes- 
sor Calvin Thomas, as chairman, and eleven other members of the association, to be 
named by him. 

That the association hereby refers to this committee the request of a committee of the 
National Educational Association for co-operation in the consideration of the subject of 
college-entrance examinations in French and German. 

In pursuance of this resolution the committee was made up early in 
the year 1897, and began its work by preparing a circular, which was sent 
out to some 2,500 teachers. The object of the circular was to obtain 
information with regard to the present status of secondary instruction in 
French and German in the country at large, and also to elicit opinions 
with respect to a number of more or less debatable questions which, as 
was thought, would be likely to arise in the course of the committee's 
deliberations. Several hundred replies were received and collated, and 
the information thus obtained was laid before the committee at a session 
held in Philadelphia one year ago. We have not thought it wise to 
cumber this report, which will be long enough at the best, with a detailed 
recital of these statistics. Suffice it to say that, taken as a whole, they 
give us a picture of somewhat chaotic and bewildering conditions. 
Under various names our secondary schools have a large number of 
courses in which French and German figure as prominent or as subordi- 
nate subjects of instruction ; courses of one, two, three, and four or more 
years ; courses providing for two, three, four, or five recitations a week, 
and for recitation periods ranging from twenty-five to sixty minutes. 
And when we come to the colleges and higher scientific schools, the 
requirements for admission are hardly less multifarious. Various bache- 
lor's degrees are conferred, and for admission to the courses leading to 
these degrees French and German figure variously, according as the mod- 
ern language is offered in addition to the Latin and Greek of the classi- 
cal preparatory course, or in place of Greek, or as Ihe main linguistic 
study. Some of the colleges have also an elementary and an advanced 
requirement, with options variously managed. 

Upon surveying the intricate problem thus presented, the members of 
the committee perceived at once that any report which they might make, 
if it was to be really useful, must be adapted, so far as practicable, to the 
conditions as they are. It was not for us to recommend radical changes 
in the American system, or lack of system, which has grown up in a nat- 
ural way and must work out its own destiny. It was not for us to attempt 
to decide which of the various competing courses is the best course, or 
to antagonize any particular study. Nor could we assume to dictate to 
the colleges just how much knowledge of French or German, or both, 
they shall demand for admission to this, that, or the other undergraduate 
course. The colleges would certainly not consent to any surrender of 
their liberty to regulate their requirements in their own way. Most 
important of all, it was not for us to propose any arrangements which 



COLLEGEl-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 79 

could be taken to imply that secondary instruction in French and Ger- 
man exists only for the sake of preparation for college. The great 
majority of those studying the modern languages in school do not go to 
college at all. Our secondary education must be recognized as having 
its own function, its* own aims and ideals. In the great mass of the 
schools those who are preparing for college receive instruction in the 
same classes with those who are not preparing for college. And this 
must always be so. These considerations seem to indicate that the proper 
line for the committee to pursue was as follows : 

To describe a certain number of grades of preparatory instruction, 
corresponding to courses of different length ; to define these grades as 
clearly as possible in terms of time and work and aim ; and to make a 
few practical recommendations with regard to the management of the 
instruction — recommendations having as their sole object the educa- 
tional benefit of the pupil. The members of the committee are naturally 
of the opinion that the study of a modern language in school has a dis- 
tinct educational value of its own. The teacher's problem is to realize 
this value from the study. Whether the learner is going to college or 
not makes no difference, save as this consideration affects the amount of 
time he can devote to the modern language while preparing himself in 
the other necessary subjects. If such courses could be wisely drawn up, 
and if then they were to be recommended to the country upon the com- 
bined authority of the Modern Language Association and the National 
Educational Association, it seemed reasonable to expect that they would 
soon become the national norm of secondary instruction in the modern 
languages. It also seemed reasonable to expect that the colleges would 
be not only willing but gl2fd to adopt the practice of stating their require- 
ments in terms of the national grades. Such a mutual understanding 
between the colleges and the secondary schools should do much to bring 
a definitely understood order out of our existing chaos. 

Having come a year ago to this general conclusion as to what could 
and should be done, the committee saw that it would be impossible to 
submit a satisfactory final report at the Philadelphia meeting. There 
were various matters that required further study. First, there was the 
question as to how many grades were really needed — whether two, or 
three, or more. Then there was the question of French and German in 
the lower school grades. This subject, it is true, had not been expressly 
committed to us ; but it was known that many private schools, and not a 
few of our best public schools, already provide instruction in French or 
German in grades below the high school. It was also known that many 
good teachers strongly advocate this idea. But if it is wise to begin a 
modern language some time before the high school is reached, and if this 
practice is to be extended and to become more and more a part of our 
national system, it is evident that the modern-language work of the 



8o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

secondary schools must be more or less affected. Again, there was the per- 
plexing question of method. In view of the sharp differences of opinion 
and of practice known to exist among teachers, the committee thought it 
best, before undertaking to advise teachers how to teach, to re-examine 
the whole matter carefully in the light of experience and in the light of 
recent contributions to the subject, to the end that its final recommenda- 
tions might be as free as possible from any vagaries of personal prejudice. 
Finally, there was the large task of drawing up the proposed courses and 
formulating the recommendations. Seeing all this work ahead, the com- 
mittee decided, at the Philadelphia session, to report progress, ask for 
additional time and money, and, if this request should be granted, to 
appoint a number of subcommittees whose task it should be to inquire 
into and report upon the various questions just enumerated. The request 
was granted, and the committee adjourned after passing unanimously a 
single resolution, the import of which will be apparent from what was said 
a little while ago. The resolution was to the effect that secondary instruc- 
tion in French and German should not be differentiated, according as the 
pupil is, or is not, prepafing for college. 

During the first half of the year 1898 the subcommittees worked at 
their several tasks by means of circulars and correspondence. Early in 
November a three-day session of the general committee was held in New 
York city. The meeting was attended by ten of the twelve members, two 
being unavoidably absent. The reports. of the various subcommittees were 
received and discussed, together with other matters germane to the com- 
mittee's general task. As a result of the three-days' discussion, the sub- 
stance of the following report was agreed upon. Since the November 
meeting the report, as hereinbelow drawn up, has been submitted to the 
members of the committee, and, after some further interchange of views 
by mail, has been agreed to by them unanimously. 

SECTION II. VALUE OF THE MODERN LANGUAGES IN SECONDARY 

EDUCATION 

Aside from the general disciplinary value common to all linguistic and 
literary studies, the study of French and German in the secondary schools 
is profitable in three ways: first, as an introduction to the life and litera- 
ture of France and Germany ; secondly, as a preparation for intellectual 
pursuits that require the ability to read French and German for informa- 
tion ; thirdly, as the foundation of an accomplishment that may become 
useful in business and travel. Under each of these heads a great deal 
might be said ; but an exhaustive discussion of the several topics would 
swell the volume of this report beyond the limits within which it is likely 
to be most useful. A few words must therefore suffice. 

What we have called the general disciplinary value of linguistic and 
literary study is well understood the world over, and has long been 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 



recognized in the educational arrangements of every civilized nation. The 
study of a language other than the mother-tongue requires the learner 
to compare and discriminate, thus training the analytic and reflect- 
ive faculties. The effort to express himself in the unfamiliar idiom, to 
translate from it into his own, makes him attentive to the meaniryg of 
words, gives a new insight into the possible resources of expression, and 
cultivates precision of thought and statement. Incidentally the memory 
is strengthened and the power of steady application developed. In time 
such study opens the gate to a new literature, thus liberalizing the mind 
and giving an ampler outlook upon life. Thru literature the student is 
made a partaker in the intellectual life of other times and other peoples. He 
becomes familiar with their manners and customs, their ideals and insti- 
tutions, their mistakes and failures, and with the artistic forms in which 
the national genius has expressed itself. When he leaves school, such 
knowledge not only enriches his personal life, but makes him a more use- 
ful, because a more intelligent, member of society. It exerts a steadying, 
sanative influence, for it furnishes him with standards based upon the 
best performance of the race everywhere. For us Americans, with our 
large confidence in our own ways and destiny, there is special need of the 
wisdom that comes from familiarity with the life, literature, and history 
of the great makers of European civilization. 

What has been said up to this point relates to the profit of linguistic 
and literary study in general, a matter about which there is no serious 
difference of opinion among intelligent people. When, however, we come 
to consider the relative value of the ancient and the modern languages, 
we raise a moot question over which there has been endless discussion. 
Here, again, we refrain from lengthy argument. Let it be remarked, 
however, that the question is a very large one, to be decided only in the 
light of long and wide experience. To reach a sane view of the matter it 
is necessary to make some allowance on both sides for the partisanship of 
the professional teacher, who is generally more or less prone, to overstate 
the importance of his specialty.' Nor should we allow too great weight 
to the views of publicists, men of letters, and so forth, who treat the ques- 
tion from a purely personal point of view. The man in middle life, who 
has the advantage of knowing just what knowledge is most useful to him 
in his own work, can usually look back upon his early education and tell 
a tale of neglected opportunities and misapplied energy. Educational 
arrangements must be made for the many, and human tastes, needs, and 
aptitudes are various. For the boy or girl who must select a course of 
study long before he or she can know just what special attainment will be 
the most useful in after-life, it is enough to be assured that the discipline 
and culture derived from the study of foreign languages, whether ancient 
or modern, will certainly prove valuable. 

The committee is of the opinion that the best course of study for the 



82 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

secondary school will always provide instruction in at least one ancient 
and one modern language. Beyond this we do not undertake to pass 
judgment upon the comparative merits of competing courses. It has always 
been the policy of the Modern Language Association not to antagonize the 
study of Latin and Greek. We ask for the modern languages in school and 
college nothing more than a fair chance to show what they are worth. We 
believe that they are worth, when properly taught, no less than the ancient 
languages.^ It is, of course, conceded that the Latin and Greek are the more 
"difficult" in the initial stages. But difficulty cannot be the highest test 
of educational utility, else Latin and Greek should themselves give way to 
Sanskrit and Chinese. Evidently it is the goodness of the kernel, and not 
the thickness and hardness of the shell, that we are mainly to .think of. 
The kernel is the introduction to the life and literature of a great civilized 
people, which it is, for some reason, very important for us to know about. 
And here it may properly be urged on behalf of the modern languages 
that, just in proportion as they are easier to acquire, the essential benefit 
of the acquisition is the sooner realized. They give a quicker return upon 
the investment. This is a consideration that is of special importance for 
the secondary school. It is quite possible in an ordinary school course to 
learn to read French and German teily. The high-school graduate who 
has acquired this ability can at once turn it to account, even if he does not 
go to college. If he allows his ability to slip from him thru lack of prac- 
tice, it is at least his own fault. In the case of the ancient languages, on 
the other hand, it is a well-understood and oft-lamented fact that the great 
majority, even of college graduates, never learn to read Latin and Greek 
with ease. Up to the last the effort is more or less painful. After leaving 
college they usually drop their Latin and Greek, and in a short time they 
cannot read at all. The profit of the study thus reduces, for the many, 
to its purely gymnastic value. That value, we are prepared to admit, is 
very great ; but we would urge that the purely gymnastic value of the 
modern languages is, potentially, also very great. The argument of 
''difficulty" is often misused. There may be as much valuable exercise 
in walking five miles up a gentle slope as in climbing a mile up a sharp 
acclivity. 

The first and greatest value of the study of the modern languages 
must be looked for, then, in the introduction of the learner to the life and 
literature of the two great peoples who, next to the English stock, have 
made the most important contributions to European civilization. That 
these literatures are as important, as worthy of study, as full of instruction 
for the modern man and woman as are those earlier literatures that once 
formed the great staple of education, is a proposition that we do not 

I " It seems to me that the teaching of modern languages in many of the schools .... has now reached 
such a stage that we may fairly say that a training in French or German, or both, can be given which is just 
as substantial, strong, and useful a training as any other that is given in the same period." (President Eliot, 
Educational Reform, p. 378.) 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 83 

think necessary to argue, tho it is sometimes denied in toto by zealous 
advocates of classical study. For the peculiar intellectual myopia that 
can see nothing new and nothing good in modern literature the only 
remedy is the classical hellebore, 

We attach greatest importance, then, to linguistic discipline and literary 
culture. But the ability to read French and German has also another 
value not directly connected with the study of belles-lettres. In nearly all 
branches of knowledge at the present time a large part of the best that has 
been written is to be found in the German arid French languages. One 
who wishes to study anything thoroly, no matter what, finds it highly 
convenient, if not absolutely necessary, to be able to read these languages 
in the pursuit of information. The high-school graduate who brings this 
ability with him to college has a great advantage in that he can at once 
begin to use it as a tool in prosecuting his studies. Of those who do not 
go tocoUege it is fair to presume that a considerable portion will continue 
some line of private study, if not as a vocation, then as an avocation. 
For all such the ability to read French and German will be of great 
service. 

It is next in order to remark briefly upon what is popularly called the 
"practical" value of French and German, that is, their utility as a means 
of intercourse. The practical command of a foreign language has a 
potential value that is at once perceived by everyone. It is felt to be 
desirable by multitudes who would probably care but little for the con- 
siderations presented in the preceding paragraphs of this section. The 
committee holds, however, that in our general scheme of secondary educa- 
tion the ability to converse in French or German should be regarded as 
of subordinate importance. We by no means say that it should be 
ignored, or that colloquial practice may safely be neglected in teaching. 
With this point the report will deal further on. Here we merely express 
the opinion that the ability to converse should not be regarded as a thing 
of primary importance for its own sake, but as auxiliary to the higher ends 
of linguistic scholarship and literary culture. The grounds of this opinion 
are briefly as follows : 

The practical command of a living language, such as will be really 
useful for the ordinary purposes of life, presupposes a large amount of 
practice in speaking. The requisite amount of practice cannot possibly 
be given in an ordinary school course, even in a course of four years in 
length, in which the pupils come together four or five times a week, per- 
haps i classes of considerable size, remain with the teacher for three- 
quarters of an hour, and the rest of the time speak English. With the 
most skillful teachers, working with the best methods that can be devised, 
and concentrating their effort upon the one aim of teaching the pupil to 
talk, the results of such a course, unless the work of the school is supple- 
mented by practice at home, is only an imperfect command of the 



84 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



language, which is of little use outside the class-room. Meanwhile the 
concentration of effort upon this one object necessarily involves the 
neglect of other things that are of more importance in the end. For it 
must be remembered that the process of learning to speak a foreign lan- 
guage has no educational value except as it is connected with, and grows 
out of, the improvement of the mind. 

In the second place it is to be remarked that, while in certain 
European countries, by reason of their geographical position, or the 
character of the population, it is of very great practical importance that 
the rising generation learns to speak two or three languages with facility, 
the conditions in the United States are different. If it were possible in 
the secondary school to impart a good practical command of French, it 
is evident that all but a minute proportion of those leaving school with 
this accomplishment would soon lose it for lack of occasion to use it. 
We have, it is true, a number of communities in which the ability to speak 
German is highly convenient, and may even have a local market value. 
But nowhere in the United States is this ability indispensable. The Eng- 
lish language is the vernacular of the country and the medium of our 
civilization, and we wish it to become more so, rather than less so, with the 
lapse of time. So far as purely practical consi4erations go, it is for those 
who come to us to learn our language, not for us to learn theirs. If we 
teach a foreign language in our schools, it should be for the sake of its 
general educational value. At the same time, its potential value as a 
means of intercourse may very properly be kept in view. One who has 
received the best training that the secondary school can give may not be 
able to speak his modern language with facility for the practical purposes 
of life; but he will have been started in the right way, will have obtained 
a good general knowledge of the language, and will have had some prac- 
tice in speaking. If, then, after leaving school, he needs to be able to 
speak the language, he has an excellent foundation on which to build. 
Proficiency will come rapidly with practice. 

SECTION III. A CRITICAL REVIEW OF METHODS OF TEACHING 
THE GRAMMAR METHOD 

When the modern languages first became a regular subject for serious 
study in secondary schools, it was natural that teachers, having no other 
model to imitate, should adopt the time-honored plan followed in the 
department of Greek and Latin. According to this method the pupil is 
first put thru a volume of paradigms, rules, exceptions, and examples which 
he learns by heart. Only when he has thoroly mastered this book is he 
allowed to read ; and even then his reading is usually regarded as a means 
of illustrating and emphasizing grammatical principles, rather than as a 
source of inspiration or of literary education. The amount of foreign 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 85 

literature studied by the class is, moreover, extremely small ; but it is all 
carefully analyzed and translated, every lesson being, in general, repeated 
several times. Composition is used as an instrument for increasing still 
more the student's familiarity <with inflections and rules. The foreign lan- 
guage is never spoken, and pronunciation is considered unimportant. 

This method has fallen into, discredit ; and while it is not yet entirely 
banished from classical instruction, it can scarcely be found, in its origi- 
nal purity, among the modern-language courses of any civilized region. 
It has, however, certain undeniable advantages. In the first place it trains 
the mnemonic faculty; in the reaction against the hard, unattractive 
schooling of our fathers, modern pedagogical fashion has gone so far that 
the power of conscious acquisition and retention is hardly exercised at 
all ; children go to college or out into life with an embryonic memory, 
and the teacher's task rivals the labor of the Danaides. Secondly, the care- 
ful study of grammatical rules and their nice application in translation 
and composition form one of the best possible exercises in close reason- 
ing. It may be urged that logical processes are not natural to the child ; 
neither are they natural to the uninstructed adult ; but to be a successful 
student or an intelligent citizen, a boy or man must be able to arrive at 
rational conclusions. Hence it is one of the chief duties of education to 
afford practice in clear and orderly thinking. The principal value of 
arithmetic and algebra as secondary-school studies lies in the fact that in 
them right and wrong reasoning are immediately and unmistakably dis- 
tinguished by their results. In most subjects the white and black are not 
so clearly defined; between them lies a broad gray zone, the region of 
*' not quite correct " and '"'not altogether bad," and it is toward this neu- 
tral belt that nearly all the pupil's efforts bend. The children "don't see 
why" their answer is not as good as any other, and the sloth and slovenli- 
ness native to the untrained human mind remain undisturbed. Now, 
grammatical analysis and synthesis, while less mechanical and more varied 
in their operations than elementary mathematics, are nearly or quite equal 
to it as a means of inculcating the habit of accurate ratiocination. 

On the other hand, the grammar method is open to criticism on the 
ground that it neglects two of the most important objects of foreign-lan- 
guage study : the broadening of the mind thru contact with the life, the ideas, 
and the forms of thought and expression of different times and countries ; 
and the cultivation of the artistic sense by the appreciative study of liter- 
ary masterpieces. A still more potent objection is the contention that 
pure grammar is not calculated to inspire interest in pupils of the high- 
school age. This objection seems to be well founded, and, if so, it is a fatal 
one ; for modern pedagogy, if it has accomplished nothing else, has estab- 
lished the fact that interest is absolutely essential to the performance of 
the best work in any field. It appears, then, that the day of the pure 
grammar method is past ; but while devising a system more in accordance 



86 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

with the principles and the possibilities of our time, let us not forget that 
the old-fashioned way had its good features. 

THE NATURAL METHOD 

At the opposite pedagogical pole from the process just described, we 
find the conversational or " natural " method. This educational " natu- 
ralism " is a reaction against the inflexible systematism of earlier teachers ; 
we should, therefore, expect it to be somewhat aggressive and somewhat 
formless, more given to pulling down than to building up. It is a prin- 
ciple, an impulse, rather than a plan ; and its products depend, to a 
greater extent than those of any other school, on the personality of the 
instructor. Too often the results of a protracted and supposedly success- 
ful course of unalloyed conversation are a rapid but unintelligible pro- 
nunciation, the fluent use of incorrect forms, and, worst of all, a most 
discouraging self-complacency. Some peculiarly gifted teachers have suc- 
ceeded in combining alertness with a reasonable degree of accuracy, but 
it will probably be found, in all such cases, that the instructor has resorted 
to devices not strictly "natural." 

What is th^ genuine '* natural method" ? In its extreme form it con- 
sists of a series of monologs by the teacher, interspersed with exchanges 
of question and answer between instructor and pupil — all in the foreign 
language ; almost the only evidence of system is the arrangement, in a 
general way, of the easier discourses and dialogs at the beginning and the 
more difficult at the end. A great deal of pantomime accompanies the 
talk. With the aid of this gesticulation, by attentive listening, and by 
dint of much repetition the beginner comes to associate certain acts and 
objects with certain combinations of sound, and finally reaches the point 
of reproducing the foreign words or phrases. When he has arrived at 
this stage, the expressions already familiar are connected with new ones 
in such a way that the former give the clue to the latter, and the vocabu- 
lary is rapidly extended, even general and abstract ideas being ultimately 
brought within the student's comprehension. The mother-tongue is 
strictly banished, not only from the pupil's lips, but, as far as possible, 
from his mind. Not until a considerable familiarity with the spoken 
idiom has been attained is the scholar permitted to see the foreign lan- 
guage in print ; the study of grammar is reserved for a still later period. 
Composition consists of the written reproduction of the phrases orally 
acquired. 

This method — if " method " is the proper term — is based on two 
general ideas ; one true, the other false. The first is the belief that the 
interest so necessary to the successful prosecution of any study (and 
especially of language work) can most easily be aroused by the actual 
spoken use of the foreign tongue. The second is the theory that a boy 
or man can best learn a new language in the manner in which an infant 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 87 

first acquires its native speech. Hence comes the epithet " natural." The 
advocates of this view overlook, first, the fact that the child requires eight 
or ten years of incessant practice to gain even a tolerable command of its 
own tongue, and, secondly, the vast difference between the mind of the baby 
and that of the youth. The really natural methods of acquisition at these 
two stages of development are almost diametrically opposed. Let us 
consider, for instance, the learning of pronunciation. The newborn child, 
after various unsuccessful experiments, reproduces sounds correctly because 
it has no previous habits of speech to contend with. The boy or man, 
unless he is phonetically trained, or exceptionally acute of hearing, does 
not imitate at all. He merely substitutes for the several strange vowels and 
consonants the English sounds which the foreign ones happen to suggest 
to him. That is why the pronunciation of conversational classes is gen- 
erally not a whit better than that of scholars taught after the most anti- 
quated fashion. In the attempt to inculcate the other elements of speech 
— inflections, syntax, and phraseology — the purely imitative process shows 
itself to be almost equally inadequate. We may justly urge, furthermore, 
against this style of teaching, that it provides little discipline for the intel- 
ligence ; that it affords only the poorest kind of mnemonic training ; that 
it favors vagueness of thought and imprecision of expression, and, finally, 
that it sacrifices the artistic interest of language study to a so-called "prac- 
tical" one. On the other hand, it certainly does awaken enthusiasm 
among its disciples, and it stimulates and holds the attention. 

The natural method has been vehemently attacked and just as vigor- 
ously defended. At present the violence of the contest has abated, and 
we are able to judge dispassionately the results of its introduction into our 
educational life. Those results have been mainly good. In summer 
schools and other institutions that have used the imitative process exclu- 
sively most of the pupils are persons who have had or will soon get some 
practice in grammar and reading. For them the conversation lessons are 
supplementary and form a useful addition to their training. In schools 
and colleges that have not accepted the "naturalistic" theory the fame of 
the new method has obliged teachers to adopt some of its practical fea- 
tures, thus bringing much needed life and variety into their instruction. It 
seems probable that the next generation will regard "naturalism" rather 
as a vivifying influence than as an independent method.' 

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL METHOD 

Out of the conviction that modern-language study should be made 
attractive, and out of the desire to adapt instruction to the known work- 
ings of the human mind, has come a system that seems more deserving of 

I For a description of the natural method see Der Leitfaden fur den Unterricht in der deutschen 
Sprache, by G. Heness, and L. Sauveur's Introduction to the Teaching of Livi}ig Languages. The 
method is well exemplified, not only in the Leit/adeti, but in Der Sprachlehrer unter seinen Schulern, 
by Heness, and in Sauveur's Couseries avec nies eleves Viud Petites causeries. All these works arc now 
published by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co,, of New York, 



88 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

serious attention than the grammar method or the "natural" style of 
teaching. This is the system invented by Gouin and brought into general 
notice by Betis.' 

The psychological method rests on the principle of the association of 
ideas and the habit of "mental visualization." The whole current vocabu- 
lary of a language, in the form of short, idiomatic sentences, is divided up 
into groups, every group consisting of phrases that are intimately con- 
nected in subject. One group forms a lesson. These brief divisions are 
gathered together in chapters, each of which treats of one general topic, 
and several chapters make a "series." When a pupil has gone thru all 
the series, with numerous reviews, he will have mastered (so we are told) 
the whole spoken language. Every lesson is first worked out orally and 
then studied by the pupil from his book. On presenting each new word 
to the beginner the instructor exhorts him to close his eyes and form a 
distinct mental picture of the thing or act represented. This image (it is 
affirmed) will remain indissolubly connected with the word, and the evo- 
cation of the one will always recall the other. Sometimes real objects or 
drawings are used, and pantomime is frequently resorted to ; but in most 
cases reliance is placed on the child's active imagination. It is never con- 
sidered a sin to put in a word or two of English, and at the outset that 
language is very freely employed. Altho most of the talking is done by 
the teacher, the pupils are constantly called upon to repeat his sentences 
and to answer questions. After the first lessons written compositions may 
be prepared, made up of phrases already acquired. Grammatical instruc- 
tion is begun early, concurrently with the other exercises, but the reading 
of consecutive texts is postponed until the bulk of the ordinary vocabula^ry 
has been learned. Many innovations have been introduced into the pres- 
entation of grammar, but most of them are more radical in appearance 
than in reality. Some, however, are extremely ingenious, and will doubt- 
less be copied by instructors who do not see fit to adopt the whole 
system. 

The Betis method has the following obvious advantages : it trains the 
memory ; it fascinates the student and holds his attention more closely than 
any other mode of teaching now in vogue ; it gives the pupil, in a reason- 
ably short time, a ready command over a large, well-arranged, and well- 
digested vocabulary ; it affords, thru some of its conversational groups, an 

I Its operation and results are described at considerable length in Die neueren Sprachen, by R. Kron, 
in III, I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (published separately under the title Die Methode Gouin, oder das Serien- System in 
Theorie und Praxis, Marburg, 1896), and ]^y V, Knorr in III, 8, and V, 9. The method has been subjected 
to a searching criticism by Traugott in the same periodical, VI, 6. It should be said here that Betis has con- 
siderably altered the original plan ; and opinions are divided concerning the respective advantages of the two 
versions. The real Gouin system can be studied in the author's Art d'enseigner et d'etudier les la^igues^ 
Paris, 1880 (third edition in 1897) ; the Betis or " psychological " method is illustrated by a volume called The 
Facts of Life (New York, 1896), by Betis and Swan. Without presuming to pass judgment on the merits of 
the case, we shall confine ourselves to the revised plan, since that is the one more widely known and the only 
one that has been tried in America, It was brought to the attention of the English-speaking world in 1892 
and 1893 by the articles of W. T. Stead, in the Review of Reviejus. In the years 1895 97 it was used in Bos- 
ton, Mass., by Betis himself, and it is now on trial in one of the public high schools of the same city. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 



insight into the life of a foreign country. As for the other side, the sys- 
tem seems, as far as we can ascertain the facts, to lay itself open to these 
criticisms : it affords but little opportunity for the exercise of judgment; 
it entirely neglects, in the first years, the cultivation of the aesthetic sense, 
and assigns literary study to a stage which high-school pupils will scarcely 
ever reach. Moreover, its treatment of pronunciation is decidedly unsat- 
isfactory ; but this defect can probably be remedied without disturbing 
the rest of the scheme. 

THE PHONETIC METHOD 

Pronunciation, neglected in the three modes of instruction just men- 
tioned, is the very foundation of a system that has of late years attracted 
attention in all northern Europe, and has gained a considerable footing 
in Germany and Scandinavia.^ Its advocates, while not entirely free from 
the intolerance and the self-confidence so characteristic of enthusiastic 
reformers, are men of sound scholarship, successful experience, and good 
standing in the educational world. As far as can be ascertained, they 
have arrived at results which go far toward justifying their seemingly 
extravagant claims. There have been few attempts to introduce the pho- 
netic teaching in this country ; probably the most extensive trial of it has 
been made at the Johns Hopkins University. 

The phonetic method resembles the "natural" and the "psychologi- 
cal" schools in that it takes^ the modern spoken language as a basis, and 
at first relies mainly on oral instruction, using, as far as possible, the for- 
eign language itself as a medium of communication. Unlike most "con- 
versation" courses, however, it is very systematically constructed, and its 
beginning is strictly scientific. It begins with a training of the ear and 
the vocal organs, the pupils being thoroly drilled in the vowels and con- 
sonants of the strange tongue. These sounds are considered both as iso- 
lated phenomena and as elements of idiomatic phrases. The phrases, in 
turn, are combined into dialogs, descriptions, and stories. At this stage 
printed texts are used, but only in phonetic notation. The ordinary 

I The names by which it is known are the " refoim," the " new," and the " phonetic " methods. It was 
outlined by Vietor in his famous monograph Der Sprachunterricht musz umkehren (1882, new edition, 
Heilbronn, 1886), and its principal features are set forth on the cover of every number of the Maitre phone- 
tique. Both this periodical (the organ of the Association Phonetique Internationale) and Die neueren 
Sprachen. edited by Vietor, are devoted to the propagation of the phonetic method. The list of publications 
— books, pamphlets, and articles — which deal with the " reform method" is very large. A complete biblio- 
graphy down to 1893 is given by H. Breymann in Die neusprachliche Reform- Litter atur von iS^b-iSq^: 
Eine bibliographisch-kritische Uebersicht (Leipzig, 1893). Two articles by leading exponents of the method 
have appeared in American journals, viz., "A New Method of Language Teaching," by W. Vietor, in the 
Educational Review, Vol. VI, p. 351, and " Phonetics and Reform Method," by A. Rambeau, in Modern 
Language Notes, Vol. VIII, p. 161. An excellent report of observations made during a six-months' tour of 
inspection of German schools is given by Mary Brebner in The Method of Teaching Moder7t Languages in 
Germany (New York: Macmillan, i8g8). A conservative, and, at the same time, fairly representative, pres- 
entation of the aims and methods of the "reformers" is given by W. Munch in his and F. Glauning's Didak- 
tik U7id Methodik des franzosischen und englischen Unterrichts,'SiondQra.nsgab& aus A. Baumeister's 
Handbuch der Erziehungs- und Unterrichtslehre fur hohere Schulen. On pp. 102 f. is to be found a 
select list of the more important writings on method in modern -language teaching which have appeared in 
recent years, 



90 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

spelling is carefully kept from the students during the elementary period. 
It is said that the transition from sound symbols to standard orthography 
presents no serious difficulty. Objects, pictures, and maps are constantly 
displayed, and every effort is made to familiarize the class with the sur- 
roundings, the institutions, the habits, the character, and the mode of 
thought of the people whose language it is learning. The phonetic texts 
gradually increase in length and difficulty, and some of the latest are 
representative of literature. Inflections and syntax are studied induct- 
ively. Composition consists first of the oral and writcen reproduction of 
matter already heard or read, then of combinations of familiar phrases. 
Systematic grammar is reserved for a late stage, and translation comes 
last of all. 

It is evident that this sort of instruction requires a special preparation 
and a special apparatus. Altho the pupils are not taught phonetics, 
it is essential that the teacher be something of a phonetician ; and the 
present difficulty of obtaining adequate instruction in the science of 
speech-sounds has doubtless done much to hinder the rapid general adop- 
tion of Vietor's program. Let us hope that in the near future such 
training will be brought within the reach of all by means of courses con- 
ducted, in our universities and in our summer schools, by men who unite 
with the necessary scientific attainments a practical knowledge of the 
requirements of American pedagogy. Phonetic texts, too, tho not abso- 
lutely indispensable, are of the greatest assistance.^ 

This method, while it lacks the logical discipline of the old grammati- 
cal instruction, is more successful than any other in forming a good pro- 
nunciation and in giving pupils a ready and accurate control of the 
spoken language. The training it affords can hardly fail, moreover, to 
improve the quality of the student's voice and his enunciation of his 
mother-tongue. From the standpoint of mnemonic education, too, it 
ranks high. In stimulating interest it is nearly equal to the "natural" 
and " psychological " courses, and it is second only to the latter in hold- 
ing the attention. The training of the attention should, by the way, be 
regarded as an important part of any pedagogical scheme ; for the habit 
of inattention — the utter inability of pupils to fix their minds on any- 
thing for more than a few minutes at a time — is the most serious obstacle 
that confronts our secondary teachers. The attempt to give scholars, by 
ear and eye, by description, and by the use of objects and pictures, a cor- 
rect and vivid idea of foreign life has been carried farther by the pho- 
neticians than by any other school ; but there is no reason, save the lack 
of rightly prepared instructors, why this feature should not be introduced 
into every method ; the neglect of it defeats one of the principal objects 
of modern -language study. Another means to the same end is the system 

iSome good ones are already available: For French, by Beyer and P. Bassy. Rambeau and J. Passy 
have provided us with suitable chrestomathies. In German we have a little book by Vietor. The Maitre pho- 
netiqucy furthermore, is constantly furnishing material in various languages, 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 9 1 



of international correspondence between school children of different 
countries.^ 

What are the disadvantages of the " phonetic '' plan, when we con- 
sider it from the point of view of our American high schools ? In the 
first place, it seems, like other " oral " methods, to overlook the impor- 
tance of literary education, for it postpones the reading of real books to 
a stage that is beyond our secondary period. In Europe, where inter- 
course between foreign countries is easy and frequent, and a command of 
several languages has a recognized commercial value, it is natural that a 
practical mastery of the strange tongue should seem highly desirable. 
With us, isolated as we are, a speaking knowledge of French and Ger- 
man has, except for teachers, but little pecuniary worth ; and even in the 
case of a student, who has acquired it for pleasure alone, the opportuni- 
ties for practice are so few that his hardly won accomplishment will soon 
slip from him. Familiarity with pronunciation and a certain ability to 
handle foreign constructions are, indeed, essential to a proper apprecia- 
tion of the literature; but if literary study is not reached, of what avail 
is the preparatory training ? For we must bear in mind that the vast 
majority of our pupils- — those for whom the course should be planned 
— will not continue their education beyond the high school. It has been 
pointed out that oral work, besides exercising the organs of speech, 
arouses interest and fosters a certain alertness of mind, and is therefore 
valuable for its own sake. We may question, however, whether these 
benefits make up for the sacrifice of all the aesthetic culture and the intel- 
lectual broadening that come only from the reading of good books. 

To this criticism the European advocates of the method would surely 
reply that they believe in abundant reading, after the student has mas- 
tered the spoken idiom. It appears, then, that the real fault of their 
program, as applied to our conditions, is not so much that its underlying 

I Mentioned by Vietor in Die neueren Sprachen, V, 3, 165, and described by Professor Magill in Mod- 
ern Language Notes, XIII, 3. The plan was first suggested in the Revue universitaire for June, i8g6, 
by Professor P. Mieille, who gave an account of his efforts to bring about an interchange of letters- between 
French children studying English and English children studying French. His idea attracted immediate atten- 
tion in France and England, ere long also in Germany, Italy, and the United States, and it was soon perceived 
that it could be turned to profit, not only for school children, but also for adults, especially for teachers. 
Having already been tried on a large scale, the plan has passed the experimental stage, and may be confi- 
dently recommended as a valuable aid in the learning of a living language. At first, correspondents could be 
secured only thru certain journals, which published lists of names in consideration of a subscription. 
Later, on the initiative of the Manuel general de I'lnstruction primaire, a large committee was 
appointed, which now undertakes gratuitously to bring correspondents together. The vice-president of the 
English section for women is Miss E. Williams, professeuraux £coIes de Sevres et de Fontinay, whose address 
is No. 6 rue de la Sorbonne, Paris. Miss Williams' secretary, who conducts her correspondence, is Mme. 
Rossignol, 117 rue Notre Dame de Champs, Paris. The vice-president of the English section for men is Profes- 
sor A. Mouchet, 16 rue de St. Guillaume, Asnieres (pres Paris). Either of these three can be addressed by 
American teachers desiring French correspondents for themselves or for their pupils. In Germany the plan has 
been taken up prominently by Dr. K. A. Martin Hartmann, of Leipzig, who has reported upon a trial of it in 
the Saxon schools and published a body of Vorschl'dge relating to it. The advantages of the system are 
well set forth by Petri in Die neueren Sprachen, VI, 511, and objections to it are answered by Hartmann in 
the same journal, VI, 324. A second and more extended article by Professor Edward H. Magill, of Swarth- 
more College, Pennsylvania, may be found in Modern Language Notes for February, 1899. 



92 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

principle is entirely incompatible with our creed as that it calls for much 
more time than we allot to foreign language. In fact, we may well doubt 
whether, with our three or four hours a week for three or four years, our 
scholars would ever reach the end even of the elementary stage ; they 
certainly would not go beyond it; their acquisition would be only a frag- 
ment. If w^ should wish to introduce this or any other thorogoing 
method, we should be obliged to increase the importance of French and 
German in the school curriculum ; and such increase is desirable from 
every point of view. Not only should the pupils who are intending to 
continue these studies in college receive the best possible preliminary 
training, but all children who begin the subjects at all should give them 
time enough to admit of an extended course, conducted according to 
the most enlightened principles. In order to gain the necessary hours, 
the foreign language must be taken up earlier, or some other high-school 
topic must be sacrificed. A few things thoroly and intelligently done 
make the best secondary discipline. As long, however, as our present 
conditions last it is clear that we must give up something. Until we are 
all willing greatly to lengthen the time given to the linguistic part of our 
children's education, we shall have to renounce the idea of a full, well- 
rounded knowledge of French and German, and, selecting the portion of 
the subject that appears most important for the greatest number, devote 
ourselves to the cultivation of that restricted field. Considerations of 
this nature have led many thoughtful teachers to adopt a mode of instruc- 
tion that we may call the " reading method." 

THE READING METHOD 

The title explains itself. The study of texts from the very begin- 
ning of the course, abundant practice in translation at sight, leading 
ultimately to the ability to read the foreign language with ease and with- 
out the interposition of English, are the principal features of this pro- 
gram. Grammar and composition are regarded merely as a help to read- 
ing, and are reduced to the essentials ; sometimes accidence and syntax 
are first learned inductively, but oftener a small text-book is used concur- 
rently with translation. Great importance is attached to the use of good 
English in the renderings. Pronunciation receives scant attention ; there 
is little or no oral exercise. 

This method has been much used of late in our schools and colleges, 
especially in those that have large classes, a short course, and an American 
teacher. The great advantage of the process is that it quickly enables the 
student to read French and German literature — not with the complete 
appreciation that only an all-around command of the language can give, 
but with the same kind of intelligence and enjoyment with which good 
classical scholars read Latin. Indirectly it helps the pupil to form a 
good style, and to increase the volume and precision of his English 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 9 3 

vocabulary ; it cultivates the taste by dwelling upon delicacies of expres- 
sion ; it exercises the memory thru the enforced retention of words 
and idioms ; it trains the linguistic sense by calling attention to the points 
of resemblance and differences in various tongues ; and the exact fitting 
of phrase to thought forms an excellent discipline for the judgment. 

On the other hand, in addition to the fact that it deals with only one 
aspect of language, the reading method is lacking in vivacity and in 
stimulus to the attention ; it interests only the more serious pupils. 
Moreover, the continued use, year after year, of an easy way of teaching 
— for it is comparatively easy, and requires but little special training — 
may prove demoralizing to the instructor, dull his appetite for self- 
improvement, and make him indolent and easily satisfied with his qualifi- 
cations. 

SECTION IV. METHOD AS RELATED TO THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 

If all our classes were in the hands of born teachers, ideally prepared 
for their work, advice with respect to method would be quite superfluous. 
Every teacher would create for himself the method best suited to his 
class and to his own peculiar gifts. His personality would infuse life and 
efficacy into any process he would be likely to adopt. But in a profession 
so widely pursued we cannot expect the majority of its followers to show 
genuine vocation. The most of our teachers are made, and we must see 
to it that they be as well made as possible. It cannot be too strongly 
urged upon school authorities that, if modern-language instruction is to 
do the good work which it is capable of doing, it must be given by thoroly 
competent teachers. The committee's investigations show, and it is a 
pleasure to testify to the fact, that we already have a goodly number of 
secondary teachers who answer to that description. Nevertheless, our 
general standard is still far too low. For some time to come the majority 
of our teachers will necessarily be guided to a large extent, in the choice 
of methods, by the consideration of their own competence. 

But, while it is easy to insist, broadly, upon the importance of adequate 
preparation for teachers, it is not so easy to define, in exact terms, the 
minimum of attainment which can be regarded as sufficient. Much will 
always depend upon personality, upon general alertness of mind, and 
aptitude for teaching. The best of teachers learn with their pupils, and 
it will sometimes happen that one who knows too little of his subject will 
teach it better than another who knows more. Nevertheless, it remains 
broadly true, and should never be forgotten for a moment, that what the 
teacher most needs is to be a master of his subject. With the sense of 
all-around mastery come independence of judgment and the right kind 
of self-assurance. Without this sense the attempt to follow someone 
else's method, however good the method may be in the hands of its 
inventor, can never produce the best results. 



94 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

To be ideally prepared for giving instruction in a modern language, 
even in a secondary school, one should have, aside from the ability to 
teach and the general culture necessary to secure the respect and attach- 
ment of pupils, a thoro practical command of the language to be taught, 
a solid knowledge of its literature, and a first-hand acquaintance with 
the foreign life of which the literature is the reflection. To be decently 
prepared, he should, at least, have read so much in the recent literature of 
the language that he can read about as easily as he would read matter of 
the same kind in English. He should have studied the principal works 
of the great writers, and should have taken a course in the general history 
of the literature. He should know thoroly the grammar of the language 
in its present form. If he has some knowledge of the historical develop- 
ment of forms, such knowledge will help him in his teaching, especially 
in the teaching of French to pupils who have studied Latin. He should be 
able to pronounce the languagcintelligently and with reasonable accuracy, 
tho he may not have the perfect ''accent" of one who is to the 
manner born. He should be able to write a letter or a short essay in the 
language, without making gross mistakes in grammar or idiom, and to 
carry on an ordinary conversation in the language without a sense of 
painful embarrassment. Even this degree of attainment will usually 
require residence abroad of those for whom English is the mother-tongue, 
unless they have enjoyed exceptional opportunities in this country. In 
any case, the residence abroad is greatly to be desired. 

In insisting that secondary teachers of a modern language should be 
able to speak the language with at least moderate facility and correctness, 
the members of the committee are well aware that they set up a standard 
higher than that which has very generally been deemed sufficient. But it 
is a standard to which Vv^e must come. Many of the best schools have 
already come to it. Nor need we fear that such a standard will result 
permanently to the advantage of the foreign-born teacher in the competi- 
tion for positions. If we leave out of account cases of exceptional 
individual talent for teaching, the general principle holds good that the 
best teacher of a foreign language is a person of the same nationality as 
his pupils, who is thoroly at home in the language to be taught. The 
American-born teacher will thus have a substantial advantage over his 
foreign-born competitor, but he cannot afford to be vulnerable in so 
vital a point as the practical command of the language in which he 
undertakes to give instruction. 

To many of our teachers residence in Europe will probably seem out 
of the question. Those who, by dint of thrift and sacrifice, contrive to 
cross the ocean can now enjoy fine opportunities in the way of summer 
courses at Paris, Geneva, Jena, Marburg, Greifswald, and elsewhere. The 
others must content themselves, for the time being, with a somewhat inade- 
quate equipment, the defects of which, however, can be to a great extent 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 95 

remedied by the reading of well-chosen books, by work in American sum- 
mer schools, and by association with foreigners in this country. It is to be 
hoped that our colleges and universities will recognize, more largely than 
they have heretofore recognized, the need of practical courses for teachers 
of the modern languages. 

With respect, now, to the main subject of this section, it is hardly 
necessary to observe that the teacher who cannot himself speak his modern 
language should not attempt seriously to teach his pupils to speak it. He 
should not try to work the " natural method," or any private variation there- 
of ; if he does, he will be almost certain to do more harm than good. He may 
and should provide memory exercises that exhibit natural colloquial forms, 
but in so doing he should be guided by some good manual, and make that 
the basis of the class-room work. The native German or Frenchman will 
naturally think that success will be easy for him in a "conversation" course, 
but it is for him to remember that he can accomplish nothing worth while 
without system ; that he must have the proper books ; that he cannot 
comprehend his pupils' difficulties unless he knows English well, and 
that he can never govern his class unless he has a sympathetic under- 
standing of American character. For the ''psychological," and still 
more for the "phonetic," program special study is necessary, and no 
one, foreigner or native, should imagine that he can cope with such a 
method off-hand. 

But if the availability and goodness of the several methods described 
in- the preceding section depend mainly upon the fitness of the teacher, 
they also depend upon the age of pupils, the probable length of the 
course, and the size of classes. If the study begins in childhood, and the 
beginner is looking forward to a long and thoro course of the best pos- 
sible kind, it is obviously the right thing that he devote a large amount of 
time at first to the acquisition of a faultless pronunciation and an easy 
command of the colloquial language. He will then have the best possible 
foundation for literary study. But if he begins later in life and the prob- 
lem is to realize the maximum of benefit from a limited course, he should 
devote less time to the colloquial language and proceed more quickly to 
the study of literature. It is also evident that in classes of considerable 
size the most efficient colloquial practice cannot be given ; the pupils may 
learn to understand the language (and this is, of course, well worth while), 
but they will not learn to speak with much facility. If this report were 
intended to meet ideal conditions, that is, if it were addressed to teachers 
whose training would permit them to choose freely from the methods that 
have been described and to combine them with wise discretion, the 
committee might be disposed (altho in that case, as we have already 
remarked, advice with regard to method would hardly be needed) to make 
some such recommendations as the following: For very young children, 
say up to the age of ten, the " natural " or imitative method of the nurse or 



96 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

the governess, with some help, perhaps, from the " psychological " method. 
For a course of six years, beginning, say, at the age of twelve, a combina- 
tion during the first three years of the ''psychological" and "phonetic" 
methods, accompanied by some study of grammar; after that a more thoro 
study of grammar, together with the reading and translation of good lit- 
erature, suplemented by oral practice in the language and written compo- 
sition. For a four-years' course, beginning in the high school, we should 
recommend a similar procedure, the division between the "psychological- 
phonetic" and the "reading " methods coming, however, somewhat earlier, 
say, after the first year. In combining the "psychological" and "phonetic" 
methods the general plan of the former would be followed, while the latter 
would be imitated in its treatment of pronunciation and, so far at least as 
French is concerned, in its use of phonetically transcribed texts. For any 
shorter course we should advise the "reading" method, accompanied, how- 
ever, by scientific training in pronunciation, drill in the rudiments of gram- 
mar, and a moderate amount of oral practice. . 

Recognizing the somewhat idealistic character of these recommenda- 
tions, the committee will present further on a scheme of secondary 
courses, with suggestions relating thereto, which are meant to be adapted 
to existing conditions. First, however, it is necessary to deal briefly with 
another subject, or rather with two closely related subjects, which are more 
or less involved in any consideration of the modern languages in second- 
ary education. 

SECTION V. MODERN LANGUAGES IN THE PRIMARY GRADES ; THE EXTEN- 
SION OF THE HIGH-SCHOOL COURSE 

In a number of American cities modern-language instruction, mainly 
German, has already been introduced in the primary' grades of the public 
schools, and the propriety and value of such instruction have been warmly 
debated in the newspapers and in local educational circles. On the one 
hand, it is urged that in any community where Germans preponderate or 
constitute even a large minority of the taxpayers, they have a right to 
demand that the German language be taught in the public schools. The 
reply is made that the primary schools of the Unites States have an impor- 
tant function to perform in preparing children for life and citizenship in an 
English-speaking country, and that this mission will best be performed if 
the English language and no other is made the subject and the medium of 
instruction. To this it is rejoined that the learning of a foreign language 
in childhood need not prejudice the learning of English or any other 
important subject, that the rudiments are quickly and easily acquired, and 
that the early beginning is in accordance with sound pedagogical prin- 
ciples. This line of assertion, in turn, is met with the reply that the primary 
schools have all they can do in teaching the subjects that are of obvious 

I We use the word " primary " to denote in a general way all grades below the high school. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 97 

and undeniable use to everybody, and that the smattering of a foreign lan- 
guage which they can impart serves no educational purpose and is of no 
practical value in life. 

When the issue is thus stated, one sees at once that there is a measure 
of soundness in all these contentions. The committee feels that it would 
be futile to attempt here an answer to the question whether it is or is not 
desirable, in the abstract, that a foreign language be taught in the primary 
grades of our public schools. The question in its politico-social bearings 
is a very large one, but it is a question which every community must and 
will decide for itself in view of local conditions, and the wisdom of its 
decision must abide the test of experience. We believe, however, that 
experience is already sufficient to enable us to formulate certain general 
principles which should always be kept in view in the practical manage- 
ment of the matter under consideration. 

In the first place, if a foreign language is taken up in the primary 
grades, it should always be as an optional study. This point seems to 
require no argument. The value of the study is at best so uncertain, so 
dependent upon circumstances of one kind or another, that the work 
should not be made obligatory for anyone. 

In the second place, it is not worth while, as a rule, that the study of 
a foreign language be taken up in the primary grades, unless the beginner 
has at least a prospect and an intention of going on thru the second- 
ary school. The reason for this opinion is that what can be acquired of 
a foreign language in the primary grades,*even with the best of teaching, 
and under the most favorable conditions, is good for nothing except as a 
foundation. For while it is true that children learn quickly and easily the 
rudiments of " conversation " in a foreign tongue, it is also true that they 
forget them no less quickly and easily. The children of parents who 
speak German at home, and expect to speak it more or less all their lives, 
may be taught in tne primary school to use the language a little more cor- 
rectly; but if they leave school at the age of twelve or fourteen, they inevi- 
tably drop back into the speech habits of those with whom they associate, 
and their school training thus becomes, so far as the German language is 
concerned, a reminiscence of time wasted. The children of parents who 
speak English at home may get a smattering of German at school ; but if 
they leave school at the age of twelve or fourteen, they soon forget all they 
have learned. 

In the third place, if a foreign language is taught in the primary 
grades, it should be by teachers who handle the language easily and 
idiomatically. Classes should be as small as possible, and there should be 
at least one exercise on every school day. Infrequent lessons in large 
classes amount to nothing. It is important that the teacher know his 
pupils intimately and be able to adapt his instruction to their individual 
needs. The general aim should be to familiarize the learner with the 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



vocabulary and phraseology of the spoken language, and to teach him to 
express himself readily and correctly in easy sentences. The free use of 
Realien is to be recommended. 

In what has just been said we have had in view the usual arrangement 
of work, in accordance with which the secondary or high school is sup- 
posed to begin with the ninth grade (the average pupil being then about 
fourteen years old) and to extend over a period of four years. Grades below 
the ninth we have classed as primary. But while this is still the typical 
arrangement for the country at large, schoolmen have here and there 
lengthened the high school by extending it downward ; in other words, 
by making provision that some of the solid disciplinary studies of the 
secondary period shall begin in the seventh or eighth grade. There 
appears to be strong argument in favor of this plan. It is urged by 
thoughtful schoolmen that our American high school has become con- 
gested ; that the increased requirements of the colleges and the pressing 
demands of new subjects for "recognition" have given to the secondary 
school more work than it can do thoroly in the traditional allotment 
of time. When, as sometimes happens, the colleges are blamed for this 
state of affairs, and it is suggested that they reduce their requirements 
for admission, they are able to reply with much force that present require- 
ments, even where they are highest, are none too high, unless we are 
willing to fall far below the standard of the Old World. The average 
graduate of an American high school is of about the same age as the 
average graduate of a German "gymnasium, but the latter is farther along 
in his studies and better prepared for higher work. We have, therefore, 
to consider the problem of strengthening the preparatory course, while 
recognizing that the ordinary four-year curriculum can bear no further 
burdens, and should, if anything, be simplified. Of this problem the 
obvious solution is to begin the proper work of the high school at an 
earlier date. Instead of dividing our educational years into eight pri- 
mary, four secondary, and seven or eight higher, we should divide them 
into six primary, six secondary, and six higher. 

It is probable, then, that the six-year high-school course will meet with 
increasing favor, for the idea is a good one. At the same time we can 
not expect that the now usual organization of school work will be changed 
immediately or even rapidly, and for this reason the model courses to be 
described below have been drawn up primarily with reference to existing 
conditions. Our principal object in touching here upon the subject of 
the six-year secondary curriculum was to prepare the way for an expres- 
sion of the opinion that, where such extended courses are provided, a 
modern language can be very advantageously begun in the seventh 
grade. 

Whether Latin or a modern language should come first in a well- 
ordered course of study is a question upon which teachers differ. It is 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 99 

one of the questions upon which, in the existing state of psychological 
and pedagogical science, it is just as well not to dogmatize. In fixing 
the order of studies in any school course, practical considerations of one 
kind or another will often outweigh general argument. Probably the 
sanest view of the matter is that it does not make very much difference 
whether Latin or a modern language precedes, if only the elementary 
instruction in either case be rightly adapted to the learner's age and 
mental condition. It is often urged that the discipline afforded by the 
study of Latin makes the subsequent learning of a modern language 
easier. This is true, but the converse is no less true. In beginning the 
serious study of any foreign language there are certain mental habits to 
be formed, certain faculties to be called into play and exercised. The 
pupil must learn how to study. He must become familiar with strange 
forms and with their equivalent in his own tongue. He must learn what 
idiom means and how to translate ; must learn to observe, compare, and 
think. For the purpose of this elementary discipline one language is as 
good as another, if only the teaching be intelligent ; and the discipline 
of the first linguistic study makes the second easier. In general, it is 
safe to assert that the average boy or girl of twelve will take more kindly to 
French or German than to "Latin. The modern language is easier and 
more interesting. It seems more real and practical. Progress is more 
rapid. The value of the Latin has to be taken on trust, that of the 
modern language is more obvious to the juvenile mind. For the children 
of twelve the Latin grammar is a very severe study. It means usually for 
many months little more than a loading of the memory with paradigms, 
a blind investment of labor for the sake of a mysterious future profit 
which the learner cannot comprehend. The elementary reading matter 
is usually dull stuff, devised to illustrate grammar. Up thru Caesar's 
Commentaries there is almost nothing to touch the feeling, to feed the 
imagination, to suggest a real connection with the pupil's own life. It is 
all a grind ; in its time and place, to be sure, a very useful grind. We 
believe in it heartily. But the question is whether for children of twelve it is 
not best to break the force of the initial impact with Latin by using a 
modern language as a buffer. 

It may also be remarked, finally, that one who wishes to acquire a 
modern language thoroly will always do well to begin in childhood. 
The later period of youth is distinctly a bad time to begin. In child- 
hood the organs of speech are still in a plastic condition. Good habits 
are easily formed ; bad habits more easily corrected. The mind acts 
more naively, and the memory is tenacious of whatever interests. Forms 
of expression are readily mastered as simple facts. Later in life, in pro- 
portion as the mind grows stronger, it also grows more rigid. The habit 
of analyzing and reasoning interferes more or less with the natural recep- 
tivity of the child. The fixation of speech habits in the mother-tongue 



lOO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

makes it increasingly difficult to acquire even a moderately good pro- 
nunciation, and perfection is usually out of the question. 

SECTION VI. PROPOSAL OF THREE NATIONAL GRADES OF PREPARATORY 
INSTRUCTION IN THE MODERN LANGUAGES 

Thus far this report has not dealt specifically with requirements for 
admission to college. In accordance with the idea embodied in the 
resolution referred to in Section I, we have approached our subject from 
the point of view of the secondary schools. We have endeavored to 
state and explain the principles which should be kept in view in order to 
render our school work in French and German as valuable as possible to 
the learner. We have recognized that the secondary school does not 
exist solely, or even mainly, for the sake of its preparatory function ; and 
what we have said would be in the main true, and we hope valuable, 
even if there were no colleges. Nevertheless the preparatory function of 
the secondary school is obviously of very great importance. In practice 
secondary courses are shaped quite largely with reference to college 
requirements. The school naturally looks to the college as a regulative 
influence. It turns to the college catalog, learns what must be done 
to prepare its pupils for admission, and concludes, not unnaturally, that 
this is about what ought to be done from an educational point of view. 
In the absence of any central control of education in the United States 
his regulative influence of the college is the most potent agency at our 
command for creating and maintaining a high standard of secondary 
teaching. We come, then, to the subject of secondary instruction as 
related to college requirements. 

For the purpose of simplifying the relation between the colleges and 
the secondary schools, and for the purpose of securing greater efficiency 
and greater uniformity in the work of the schools, it is hereby proposed 
that there be recognized, for the country at large, three grades of pre- 
paratory instruction in French and German, to be known as the elemen- 
tary, the intermediate, and the advanced, and that the colleges be invited 
to adopt the practice of stating their requirements in terms of the national 
grades. 

Explanatory. — The proposed three grades are designed to correspond 
normally to courses of two, three, and four years, respectively, the work 
being supposed to begin in the' first year of a four-year high-school 
course, and to proceed at the uniform rate of four recitations a week. 
The elementary course is designed to furnish the minimum of prepara- 
tion required by a number of colleges in addition to the Latin and Greek 
of the classical preparatory course. The intermediate course is designed 
to furnish the preparation required by many colleges which permit the 
substitution of a modern language for Greek. The advanced course is 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS lOI 



designed to furnish the highest grade of preparation of which the second- 
ary school will ordinarily be capable in a four-year course. 

With respect to the time required, in years and in hours per week, for 
the satisfactory completion of the work to be outlined below, it should 
be said that the committee has no thought of imposing upon the schools 
an inflexible program. Teachers will continue to make their programs 
in accordance with their own judgment and convenience. The rapidity 
with which the proposed work can be done will, of course, vary p-reatly 
in different schools, with the age and aptitude of pupils, the size of 
classes the efficiency of teaching, and according as the beginner of 
French or German has or has not studied Latin. It makes no small 
difference whether the modern language is begun in the first year or in 
the third year of the high-school course. In attempting to draw up 
model courses, however, the committee obviously had to make some 
definite assumption with regard to the time of beginning and the number 
of recitations per week. It was also necessary to provide for the case of 
the work beginning in the first year, since many of our best schools 
already have four-year courses in German or French, or both. It is 
clearly desirable that such courses be made as good as possible, and that 
they have a recognized place and value in our general scheme of require- 
ments for admission to college. 

With regard to the four recitations per week, let it be observed that 
that number has been made the basis of our calculations, not because 
the committee prefers it to five, or wishes to recommend it to the 
schools instead of five, but because it is believed to be the smallest 
number that will permit the proper completion of the work pro- 
posed, if the work begins in the first year. When a modern language 
is begun in the third year of the high school, it may be possible to com- 
plete the intermediate course in two years at the rate of five recitations a 
week, and the elementary course in proportionally less time. Where 
French is taken up in the last year of the classical preparatory course, it 
may be possible sorbetimes to meet the elementary requirement in one 
year at the rate of five recitations a week. But this will almost never be 
possible in the case of German, and in general the committee does not 
recommend one-year courses. The attempt to meet the elementary 
requirement in one year will result usually in a cramming process, with 
neglect of that thoro drill upon the rudiments which is necessary for a 
good foundation. 

In drawing up model courses the committee has had in view the 
needs and the conditions of the United States at large.' The work of the 

I In the spring of 1896 representatives of Harvard, Yale, Prijiceton, Columbia, Cornell, and the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania met in New York and, in conference with representatives of a number of prominent 
eastern preparatory schools, agreed upon a scheme of uniform requirements which has since-been accepted by 
the institutions concerned. The modern -language conference framed an elementary and an advanced 
requirement in French and in German, The elementary requirement of the New York conference is substan- 
tially the same as that proposed by this committee, and its advanced requirement is nearly identical with 



I02 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



subcommittee charged with the matter was first submitted for criticism 
and suggestions to some two hundred secondary teachers of known 
ability and experience. It was then carefully revised in the light of the 
information and opinions gathered, and finally ran the gauntlet of thoro 
discussion in the Committee of Twelve. It is believed to represent the 
best intelligence of the country ; to set a standard which is high, but not 
too high, and to be thruout entirely practicable. Teachers who do not 
find their own ideas perfectly expressed by the scheme will please 
remember that the committee had to find its way among a multitude of 
counselors. 

RECOMMENDED COURSES OF STUDY 

SECTION VII. THE ELEMENTARY COURSE IN GERMAN 
A. THE AIM OF THE INSTRUCTION 

At the end of the elementary course in German the pupil should be able to read at 
sight, and to translate, if called upon, by way of proving his ability to read, a passage of 
very easy dialog or narrative prose, help being given upon unusual words and construc- 
tions, to put into German short English sentences taken from the language of everyday 
life or based upon the text given for translation, and to answer questions upon the rudi- 
ments of the grammar, as defined below. 

B. THE WORK TO BE DONE 

During the first year the work should comprise : ( i ) careful drill upon pronunciation ; 
(2) the memorizing and frequent repetition of easy colloquial sentences; (3) drill upon 
the rudiments of grammar, that is, upon the inflection of the articles, of such nouns as 
belong to the language of everyday life, of adjectives, pronouns, weak verbs, and the 
more usual strong verbs ; also upon the use of the more common prepositions, the simpler 
uses of the modal auxiliaries, and the elementary rules of syntax and word order ; (4) 
abundant easy exercises designed not only to fix in mind the forms and principles of 
grammar, but also to cultivate readiness in the reproduction of natural forms of expres- 
sion; (5) the reading of from 75 to 100 pages of graduated texts from a reader, with 
constant practice iii translating into German easy variations upon sentences selected 
from the reading lesson (the teacher giving the English), and in the reproduction 
from memory of sentences previously read. 

During the second year the work should comprise: (i) the reading of from 150 to 
200 pages of literature in the form of easy stories and plays ; (2) accompanying practice, 
as before, in the translation into German of easy variations upon the matter read, and 
also in the off-hand reproduction, sometimes orally and sometimes in writing, of the 
substance of short and easy selected passages ; (3) continued drill upon the rudiments of 
the grammar, directed to the ends of enabling the pupil, first, to use his knowledge with 
facility in the formation of sentences, and, secondly, to state his knowledge correctly in 
the technical language of grammar. 

C. SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER 

The following paragraphs are submitted in the interest of good teaching, and not in 
the interest of the most expeditious preparation for college. It is well known that a 

our intermediate requirement. Slight differences appear in phraseology, in estimates of time required, and in 
the number of pages suggested for reading. But these differences are insignificant. It is believed, therefore, 
that the six prominent institutions which have already made so good a beginning in the unification of entrance 
requirements will have no difficulty in adapting their statements to the scheme which is here proposed for the 
country at large, 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 103 

capable boy or girl can be crammed for a college examination in any subject in much less 
time than a proper training in the subject would require. Here, however, we are con- 
cerned with the proper training. The college-entrance examination is admittedly an 
imperfect test of attainment in a modern language. Wher€ candidates are numerous and 
the time limited, the examination is necessarily in writing ; and then the only available 
test of the ability to read is the ability to translate, while pronunciation and readi- 
ness of speech are not tested at all. It is evident, then, that a good symmetrical training 
in the secondary school must keep in view more things than are likely to be " required " 
of the candidate at his examination for admission to college. In what follows we shall 
take up the more important points that are involved in the teaching of beginners, and 
make some practical suggestions — suggestions that are by no means intended to pre- 
scribe a routine, but rather to state and explain guiding principles. 

I. Pronunciation. — It is hardly necessary to say that the first matter of importance 
for the beginner is the learning of a good pronunciation. Drill upon the subject should 
be kept up steadily and inexorably until right habits are firmly fixed ; because wrong 
habits formed at the outset are very persistent and very difficult to correct. In attempt- 
ing to imitate his teacher's utterance of the strange German sounds the learner will at 
first neither hear nor reproduce correctly, but will utter rough approximations of his own. 
It is necessary to train both his ear and his vocal organs. In doing this most teachers 
rely only upon oft-repeated imitations of their own pronunciation ; and this is the best 
reliance, always supposing that the model itself be good. What usually happens, how- 
ever, is that teachers cease or slacken their drill too soon. They find it dull business. 
After correcting some faulty utterance a score or two of times, they conclude that the 
result obtained will " do," that it is the best obtainable, that practice will make perfect — 
in the future. But the learner, being no longer regularly brought to book for his faults, 
perpetuates them, and makes no further progress except to pronounce badly with greater 
facility. In this way is acquired the slovenly pronunciation with which too many leave 
school. 

The opinion is sometimes expressed that it is not worth while to take great pains in 
the teaching of pronunciation, since perfection is out of the question. The argument is 
that American youths will not learn in school, however they may be taught, to pronounce 
German as Germans pronounce it ; and that, since they will speak badly anyway, the 
question of more or less cannot greatly matter. But this is not the right attitude. For, 
altho one who is not a German will very rarely learn after childhood to use the organs of 
speech precisely as Germans use them, so that his pronunciation will ring absolutely true, 
still any boy or gin of average apitude may, by careful attention to the subject, acquire a 
pronunciation so good that it will be pleasing rather than displeasing to a cultivated 
German ear ; just as, in the case of Germans learning English, that which is called the 
foreign " accent " may be reduced to such minute proportions that it does not offend, tho 
it is noticeable. Now, this is a result worth working for ; but it can only be obtained when 
the feather is interested in pronunciation and well informed with regard to it. And right 
here comes in the great value of a knowledge of phonetics. Without such knowledge 
the teacher's only resource is the imitation of himself as model; his own personal habits 
of utterance become the standard of the class. But his habits may not be the best. If 
an American, he may have received a faulty training ; if a German, he may have dialectic 
peculiarities which should not be taught to a class. One who knows just how the German 
sounds are produced, and how they differ from the English sounds with which they are 
most apt to be confounded, has a great advantage in teaching pronunciation. If he 
hears a faulty utterance, he will know what is the matter and can correct it in the most 
effective way. If he knows something of German dialects, of provincial or local peculiari- 
ties of pronunciation, of the nature and claims of the so-called standard pronunciation, 
he will know what " correctness " means and will be able to teach more intelligently. 



I04 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

And, what is most important of all, for one who has a scientific interest in pronunciation 
the class-room drill upon the subject will not be a dull, mechanical routine, but a highly 
interesting employment. He will himself learn much incidentally, and will make his 
teaching of pronunciation useful to his pupils, not only for German, but also for English. 

It is, therefore, very much to be desired that teachers of German in the secondary 
schools be qualified to deal scientifically with the subject of pronunciation. For this pur- 
pose it is not at all necessary that they be accomplished phoneticians. A very rudimen- 
tary knowledge of general phonetics will suffice. Of greater importance is it to have at 
hand, and to have carefully studied, a good treatment of the special problems of German- 
English phonetics.^ 

2. The memorizing of colloquial sentences. — If there is any point upon which progres- 
sive teachers of living languages the world over have lately been coming to an agreement, 
it is that, in any course of study making the slightest pretension to thoroness, the proper 
starting-point in teaching is the vocabulary and phraseology of the language as repre- 
sented in its everyday forms of expression. It is, of course, possible to learn to read a 
language with some facility and still not be able to utter a sentence in it intelligibly or to 
understand a sentence uttered by another ; in short, without acquiring any feeling for the 
language in its characteristic modes of expression. Scholars and men of science who 
find it necessary in their work to read a number of foreign languages can very quickly, 
by the aid of grammar, dictionary, and translation, reach a point at which they can 
"make out the sense " or "get the drift" of an article or a pamphlet. But this is not 
learning the language any more than " picking up " a few tunes on the piano is learning 
music. Such reading, tho better than nothing and useful for certain purposes, is unsatis- 
factory. In the field of belles-lettres, where so much depends upon style, upon niceties of 
expression, and the subtle association of ideas, it is extremely unsatisfactory. The school, 
in dealing with languages so important as German and French, should aim at something 
better. It should aim to be thoro ; to begin in the best way, and lay a good foundation. 

For literary appreciation — that is, for reading of the most profitable- kind — one 
needs before all things a sensitive feeling for the language. One needs the sense of 
being at home in it. In teaching, this principle should be recognized from the outset 
The learner's knowledge is to be made second nature. His facilities and organs must be 
taught to respond instantly and naturally to the foreign symbols, whether they are seen or 
heard. Idea and form of expression must become so intimately associated that the one 
suggests the other without any intervening process of ratiocination. To accomplish this, 
there is no kind of drill so good as the memorizing and frequent repetition of easy col- 
loquial sentences. Such sentences can be given out and learned without any attempt at 
grammatical analysis and quite in advance of the pupil's grammatical knowledge. To 
know the meaning of es thut mir leid, and to be able to handle the sentence appropriately, 
it is not at all necessary that one be able to parse a single one of the words. It is to be 
borne in mind that psychologically the unit of speech is the sentence or the phrase, and 
not the individual vocable. Thoughtful teachers sometimes object to this form of drill 
on the ground that it is mere memory work, that it does not teach the pupil to think or to 

I Such a treatment can be found in Hempl's German Orthography and Phonology (Boston, 1897). 
The second " book " of Professor Hempl's work gives, in chap, i, a sufficient introduction to general pho- 
netics, with bibliography on p. 61 ; then, in chap. 2, a scientific description of German speech sounds. Chap. 
3 discusses such topics as " A Standard of Pronunciation," "Stage Pronunciation," "The Best German," 
" The Difference between German and English Pronunciation," and, very fully, " The Values of the Let- 
ters." Bibliography, on p. lov. From the works there mentioned we select, as likely to be most useful to 
the teacher (aside from Professor Hempl's own book) : Grandgent's Gertnan aftd English Sounds (Boston, 
1892) ; Brandt's German Gramitiar (second part) (Boston, 1888); Victor's German Pronunciation, 4th 
ed., 1890 (Lemcke &,Biichner 812 Broadway, New York, American agents) ; also Victor's German essays, 
Die Aussprache des Schriftdeutschen,iZgo, and Wie ist die Aussprache des Deutschen zu lehren? 
1893. It is hardly necessary to say that the most widely used school grammars deal very briefly and super- 
ficially with the subject of pronunciation, and are an insufficient reliance, even when free from positive error. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 105 

reason. This, however, is not a valid objection. Such drill does much more than to load 
the memory. It develops aptitude by making psychological reactions instantaneous ; in 
short, by creating Sprachgefiihl. Its value has some analogy to that of the finger exercises 
of the incipient pianist. 

It is obviously important that what is given out to be learned in this way should 
consist of nothing but natural, oft-recurring forms of expression. The pupil is to learn 
how Germans actually say things, and not how they might possibly say something which 
no one would ever have occasion to say outside the class-room. The ideal condition is, 
of course, that the teacher have such a command of colloquial idiom that he will be able 
to furnish the necessary materials from the resources of his own knowledge. It will, 
then, be best that the pupil's repetitions be elicited by questions addressed to him in 
German ; in other words, that the drill take the form of short dialogs without the use of 
English. But, as we have already intimated, the teacher who does not command the lan- 
guage should not attempt this, but follow a book or note down suitable sentences from 
his reading of realistic stories and plays. Such sentences may then be given out to be 
learned and repeated frequently, the teacher giving the thought in English,^ 

This is, perhaps, an appropriate place to say a word upon the Subject of memorizing 
poetry, a kind of drill which is highly thought of and largely practiced by many teachers. 
The argument in its favor generally takes some such form as this : Boys and girls are 
apt to memorize easily, and they must memorize something ; then why not have them 
memorize gems of poetry and great thoughts of great writers rather than the banalities of 
ordinary discourse ? But this argument is fallacious. The object of the drill in col- 
loquial German is, as we have already remarked, not to load the memory with things 
supposed to be highly valuable in themselves, but to create an instinctive feeling for the 
language in its usual and natural modes of expression. Now poetry, as the language of 
emotion, is a more or less artificial — often a highly artificial — form of expression, and 
it is better that the natural become lodged in the mind first. The beginner who has 
learned to recite " Sah ein Knab' ein Roslein stehn, Roslein auf der Heiden," is hardly 
in a better, but rather in a worse, position for learning how a German would ordinarily 
express that idea. It may further be remarked that in simply hearing recitations of poetry 
in the class-room the teacher can be of little use except to see that his pupils have done 
their task, which is, to make the best of it, one of his lowest functions ; to correct mis- 
takes of pronunciation, and to give points in elocution, if his talent runs in that direction. 
It is an easy business for him, but it is apt to involve a great waste of valuable time for 
all except the reciter. Finally, it is not to be forgotten that this kind of exercise, if it is 
felt as an irksome task, may easily create a positive distaste, instead of a liking, for the 
gems of poetry. "We must remember Lord Byron's pathetic exclamation : 

Then farewell, Horace, whom I hated so. 
To sum up, we would not be understood as condemning altogether the exercise of mem- 
orizing poetry, but we have not thought it of sufficient importance to deserve a place in 
the scheme of work outlined above. At atiy rate, it should not be made much of in the 
early stages. The poems given out for committing to memory should be few and short, 
and selected with reference to their simplicity and naturalness of expression. The 
teacher who omits the exercise altogether during the first year will make no great 

I For reasons sufficiently obvious the committee does not undertake to recommend particular American 
text-books for class use. There are a number of publications from which material more or less suitable can 
be culled. The test in choosing is whether a sentence represents (i) a natural and (2) a usual or oft-recurring 
form of expression. A scientific manual of spoken German, on the general lines perhaps of Sweet's Elemen- 
tarbuch des gesprochenen EngUsch, is a desideratum. Worthy of recommendation for its thoro trust- 
worthiness in respect of idiom, and equally good for German and French, is the German edition of Storm's 
Dialogues franqais^ i.e., Franzosische Sprechubungen (Leipzig, 1888). For an excellent theoretical 
discussion of colloquial German, containing many useful hints to the teacher, we call attention to Wunder- 
lich's Unsere Umgangsprache (Weimar, 1894). 



io6 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

mistake. The recitation of well-chosen dialogs, with the parts assigned, is a better exer- 
cise, and, we believe, is usually found more interesting to learners, 

3. Grammar. — It is assumed that simple exercises in colloquial German will begin 
with the very first lesson and take a portion of each recitation period, even when the 
pupil is learning the alphabet and becoming familiar with the values of the letters. It 
goes without saying that the sentences learned should occasionally be written down, as 
well as often repeated orally. Practice in writing German from dictation is helpful in 
learning to spell, and should be kept up for some time. It may, however, be discon- 
tinued earlier than in case of French, because German spelling [is ^much easier to learn 
than French, 

Whether the script letters should be learned at the same time with the print letters 
and regularly used in all written work is a question upon which opinions differ. On the 
one hand, it is urged that the script letters are not at all difficult to master, and that the 
use of them facilitates learning to spell ; that such spellings as musz, miissen, Herz, sitzen,- 
and others come more easily in the German than in the Roman script. It is also urged 
that, as Germans use the script in their ordinary writing, those who are studying the 
language should learn to use it. The opposing arguments are that there is nothing 
educational or practically useful about learning to write the German script ; that for 
Americans it is quite sufficient to be able to read it, in case they should some time get a 
letter written in it ; that boys and girls of high-school age have usually formed their 
hand in English, and that, unless great pains be taken with them at the start — that is, 
unless the teacher be both able and willing to teach penmanship for its own sake — they 
are almost sure to learn to write the script in an ugly un-German hand, like nothing ever 
met with outside the class-room. From this it is clear that there is something to be said 
upon both sides. Upon the whole, the committee is of the opinion that the use of the 
German script in the schools should not be regarded as a matter of great importance, and 
should never be required at a college examination. Teachers who write it well, and are 
willing to take the time to teach it well, may very properly insist upon it. Others will be 
upon safe ground if they permit the use of the Roman letters in all written work. In 
that case, however, they should sooner or later give their pupils some practice in reading 
German handwriting. 

It is assumed that learners who are of high-school age will take up the study of 
grammar after a few preliminary lessons. But for several weeks the grammar lessons 
should be short and easy, so as to allow an abundance of time each day for colloquial 
exercises and drill upon pronunciation. As the course proceeds, the study of grammar 
and the doing of e;icercises directly related to the study of grammar may properly be 
allowed to absorb an increasing portion of the time, but the colloquial practice should be 
kept up. In the teaching of grammar the most important principle to be kept in view is 
that the grammar is there for the sake of the language, and not the language for the sake 
of the grammar. The recitation of paradigms, rules, and exceptions is always in danger 
of degenerating into a facile routine, in which there is but little profit. The important 
thing is not that the learner should acquire facility in telling dff paradigms, quoting 
statements, and explaining principles according to the book, but that he should acquire 
facility in understanding and using the language. The maxim should be : Little theory 
and much application. It is of small use to be able to state correctly the principle of 
adjective declension, so long as the pupil, in attempting to apply the principle in a simple 
case, is obliged to stop and think, to recall his grammar, and perhaps to guess after all. 
The right forms must be so bred into the blood that they come naturally from tongue and 
pen. This, of course, requires an endless amount of repetition, which may at times 
become tedious. But the time spent upon this elementary drill is well spent and tells for 
good thruout the course. Teachers should not be in too great haste to get to reading 
good literature. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 107 

The first difficulty of practical importance in teaching German grammar relates to 
the gender and declension of nouns. If the attempt is made to master the gender and 
declension of every noun that is met with, either progress will be very slow (as in case of 
German children learning the mother-tongue), or the learner's memory soon becomes 
overtaxed. Trying to remember everything, he soon ceases to remember anything with 
absolute confidence. The best way to deal with this difficulty is to concentrate attention 
from the start upon those nouns that belong to the language of everyday life — the 
names of familiar objects, relationships, and ideas — to make sure of these and let the 
others go. A list of such nouns can be made out which need not contain more than, say, 
three hundred words. The pupil who at the end of a two-years' course has really 
learned that number of nouns, so that the right gender and the right plural come to him 
instantly, has done quite enough. More should not be expected by the college examiner, 
so far as concerns those nouns the gender and declension of which cannot be determined 
by inspection. It is, of course, assumed that the candidate will know about nouns in 
-chen, -kin, -ei, -heit, -keit, -in, -schaft, -ung. Whether he knows any other rules for 
gender is not very important. 

After the inflection of the noun the other grammatical topics that require the most 
attention are the inflection of the adjective, the forms of the strong verbs and modal 
auxiliaries, the use of prepositions, and the subject of word-order. In dealing with these 
and the minor difficulties of German grammar it is customary to rely, first, upon gram- 
matical exercises — that is, the translation from German into English and from English 
into German of collections of sentences devised or selected for the express purpose of 
illustrating some grammatical point]; and, secondly, upon drill connected with the 
German reading lesson. Both these resources are good, if properly handled, and neither 
should be neglected. To do its proper work the grammatical exercise should not be 
simply worked thru once and then dismissed, but reviewed and repeated until the 
right forms come instantly from the tongue and pen. From this it follows that the 
sentence of the grammatical exercise, no less than those learned in colloquial practice, 
should represent natural forms of expression — things that Germans say or might 
say under easily supposable conditions. It used to be thought — and perhaps some 
teachers and text-book makers still think — that anything grammatical will do for 
teaching grammar. And so, perhaps, it will ; but it is possible to teach the grammar at 
the expense of the language, and the language is what we are after. To ask a learner to 
upset into alleged German such sentences as : " The pupils' coats and shoes are in the 
maids' hands," or, "I give warm clothes and red apples to poor little children," is, to say 
the least, inexpedient. Instead of a help, it is a hindrance to the acquisition of a 
sensitive feeling for the language. Rather than exercise his wits upon the translation of 
such English into such German it were much better that the learner should do no English- 
German translation whatever, but simply read German and learn the grammar by 
observation and appropriate drill. Perceiving rightly that the translation of bad exercises 
is a waste of time and positively harmful, some teachers have been led to the position 
that all English-German translation is out of place in a beginner's course. They argue 
that one should not be expected to translate into a language until he knows something 
about it, until he has a certain working capital in the way of a vocabulary, phraseology 
and linguistic feeling; that so long as he must look-up his words in the vocabulary and 
painfully and faultily piece them together, according to his understanding of the gram- 
mar, it is better for him to occupy himself with German produced by those who know the 
language. This reasoning is not altogether unsound, but properly applied it does not 
lead to the rejection of all English-German translation in the early stages of study. On 
the contrary, such translation is itself highly useful in acquiring that larger working 
capital which is desired. All that is necessary is to avoid difficult or independent trans- 
lation. Thruout the elementary course the English-German translation should consist 



Io8 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



of little else than easy variations upon a German text already studied. The German 
Vorlage should furnish or suggest substantially all that the learner needs to know, pre- 
vious acquirements being, of course, taken into consideration. Here the maxim should 
be : A great deal of the easy rather than a little of the difficult. 

We come now to the subject of drilling upon the reading lesson. There are various 
kinds of questions that can be asked about a text, but three types are prominent in the 
practice of teachers. In the first type the questions call for the recitation of paradigms 
and rules and the explanation of grammatical principles. In the second type the ques- 
tions call for the translation into German of English sentences based upon the text. In 
the third the object is to draw the pupil out and induce him to talk about what is said in 
the text. To illustrate, supposing the text in hand to be, Der See i7iacht eine Bucht ins 
Land: 

1. Decline der See. What is the meaning of die See? Decline die See. Give the 
principal parts of macht. Inflect macht in the present mdicative active. Give a synopsis 
of its tense in the indicative, first person singular. Why is the accusative used after in ? 
Decline Land. What is the difference between Lande and Lander? 

2. How would you say in German : The lake is quiet. The sea is quiet. My home 
is on the lake. I see a ship on the sea. There are many lakes in Switzerland? Give 
the German for : I made. I have made. I shall make. What are you making? Paper 
is now made of wood. Would it do to say eine Bucht im Lande? How would you say : 
He is coming to land. I am going into the country. I live in the country. That is the 
case in all lands except the Netherlands ? 

3. Was macht der See? Welcher See ist gemeint ? Wo befindet sich dieser See? Von 
welchem Lande ist hier die Rede? Waren Sie je in der Schweiz ? Was fUr eine Regierung 
hat die Schweiz ? 

Now, the best teaching will make some use of all these types of drill questions, but 
more of the second than of the first or third. The objection to an exclusive, or even a 
predominant, use of the first is that it teaches the pupil to " rattle off " paradigms and 
rules, but not to understand or to use the language. Instead of learning to think in Ger- 
man, as the phrase is, he learns to think grammar in the terms of his text-book. Every 
college examiner is acquainted with the youth who will write er hat gekommen and' then, 
on demand, give correctly the rule for the use of the auxiliaries of tense. What is 
needed in his case is not more practice in repeating the rule, but more practice in writing 
and saying er ist gekommen. The objection to an exclusive use of Type 3 is that it does 
not specifically teach grammar at all. In Types I and 2 the questions may, of course, be 
put in German instead of English. It is to be observed, however, that the German 
grammatical terms are rather difficult to learn and do not come under the head of "every- 
day forms of expression." The principal value of grammatical drill conducted in Ger- 
man is to teach the learner to handle the sentence. So far as the vocabulary is concerned, 
he might better be learning something else. 

4. Reading matter. — In outlining the work of the elementary course we have recom- 
mended that, aside from the German-English exercises of the grammar, the reading 
matter of the first year consist of graduated texts from a reader. This is the usual prac- 
tice, and it certainly has some argument in its favor. The advantage of a reader is that 
it offers variety, introduces the learner to different styles, and leads him gradually from 
that which is very easy to that which is more difficult. Some teachers, however, prefer 
to make no use of a reader, but to pass directly from the grammar to complete stories 
having some literary value. They urge that such reading is more interesting and profit- 
able than the disconnected texts usually found in readers. Others, while approving the 
use of a reader, will prefer to drop it earlier than our scheme proposes, and to read at 
least one complete story during the first year. Questions of this kind are not very impor- 
tant; and there are no general principles on which to decide them. Teachers must 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 109 

decide according to the character of their classes. Fortunately there is now no lack of 
suitable material. We have several very good readers and a large number of Mdrchen, 
Geschichten, Erzdhlungen, and Novellen, published both separately and in collections, 
and all annotated for beginners. 

In choosing from the mass of literature available for the second year the aim should 
be, of course, to find that which is interesting to the young, wholesome, well written, and 
not too difficult. It is natural to begin with the fairy stories, or Mdrchen, in which Ger- 
many is so prolific, but pupils of high-school grade should not be kept too long on a diet 
"of Mdrchen. If, at the end of the elementary course, the pupil is to be able to read easy 
narrative prose at sight, it is necessary that he have practice in reading different styles. 
Lively, realistic narrative, with plenty of dialog, is to be preferred. The German 
Mdrchen is apt to appear childish to American boys and girls. On the other hand, 
teachers often cortiplain that most of the tales furnished by conspiring editors and pub- 
lishers are more or less mawkish love tales, and they sigh for vigorous stories of adven- 
ture, with the grand passion left out or made little of. This is a demand which future 
editors may well keep in view. Meanwhile we must remember that the Germans are a 
more sentimental people than the Americans, and that one of the objects for which we 
study German in school is to learn what the Germans are like. 

Stories suitable for the elementary course can be selected from the following list : ^ 
Andersen's Mdrchen and Bilderbuch ohne Bilder; Arnold's Fritz auf Ferien ; Baumbach's 
Die Nonna and Der Schwiegersohn; Gerstacker's Germelshausen ; Heyse's VArrabbiata^ 
Das Mddchen von Treppi, and Anfang und Ende; Hillern's Hdher ah die Ktrche; ^oxi- 
?,exi^s, Die braune Erica; Leander's Trdumereien, QXi.6. Kleine Geschichten; Seidel's Mdr- 
chen; Stokl's Unter dem Christbaum; '^X.oxxcC^ Immensee 2,xA Geschichten aus der Tonne; 
Zschokke's Der zerbrochene Krug, 

Good plays adapted to the elementary course are much harder to find than good 
stories. Five-act plays are too long. They require more time than it is advisable to 
devote to any one text. Among shorter plays the best available are perhaps Benedix' 
Der Prozesz, Der Weiberfeind, and Giinstige Vorzeichen; Elz' Er ist nicht eifersUchtig ; 
Wichert's An der Majorsecke; Wilhelmi's Finer musz heiraten. It is recommended, how- 
ever, that not more than one of these plays be read. The narrative style should predom- 
inate. A good selection of reading matter for the second year would be Andersen's 
Mdrchen, or Bilderbuch, or Leander's Trdumereien, to the extent of, say, forty pages. 
After that such a story as Das kalte Herz or Der zerbrochene Krug; then Hdher als die 
Kirche or Immensee; next a good story by Heyse, Baumbach, or Seidel ; lastly Der 
Prozesz. 

A minor question which sometimes exercises the mind of the teacher is the question 
of the special vocabulary versus the dictionary. The obvious advantage of the special 
vocabulary is that it is very much more convenient for the learner. A well-known 
schoolman, in writing to the committee upon this subject, sums up his views in the 
proposition that "dictionaries are a nuisance." Nor is it easy to find any valid pedagogi- 
cal objection to the use of a properly prepared special vocabulary. The objection most 
often urged is that in using a special vocabulary the scholar does not learn, nor try to 
learn, what the word really means in and of itself, but only what it means in the context 
where he has found it. It is urged, therefore, that before he can become independent, 
and acquire scholarly habits of study, he must emancipate himself from the special 
vocabulary and learn to use the dictionary. There is some force in this argument, but 
not much, for what the learner invariably does in using the dictionary is to pick out, 
from the various meanings given, the particular one which suits his occasion. To the 
others he pays no attention. When he comes across the word in another sense, he looks 

I In all the reading lists the order is alphabetical. It expresses no opinion with regard to the merit of 
the texts as compared with one another. 



no NA TIONAL ED UCA TIONAL ASSOCIA TION 

it up again. It is thus a saving of time if he have the right meaning, unincumbered by 
the others, given him in a special vocabulary. Really the v^^hole question is mainly one 
of saving time. If, in getting his lesson, the learner could have at his elbow someone 
who would simply tell him the meaning of the word, that would be better still, if he 
would but remember what he was told. But there is undoubtedly some truth in the 
principle that what is acquired with difficulty, that is, with exertion and exercise of 
judgment, is the more likely to be remembered. Meanings that come easily in footnotes 
are apt to go no less easily. The whole question is one upon which no fixed rule can be 
laid down. There is no serious objection to the use of special vocabularies thruout 
the elementary course, provided the right texts are available in editions provided with 
vocabularies, but the choice of reading matter should not turn primarily upon this con- 
sideration. It is best to provide a course of reading, with variety, interest, and progres- 
sion, even if, toward the end, the dictionary has to be used. 

5. Translation into English; sight reading. — In the majority of schools it would 
appear that, after the first few months, the study of German consists principally in the 
translation of German literature into English. Translation is the exercise which is felt 
by both teacher and pupil to be the most important, and it is the one, accordingly, which 
is most insisted upon. It is also the exercise most easily handled. To sit and hold a 
book while the members of the class translate, one after the other, into class-room 
English, to correct their more serious blunders, and help them to "get the sense," 
requires no great amount of preparation, no great expenditure of energy or ingenuity. 
But while it has its dangers, the profitableness of translation cannot be successfully 
attacked. Whatever may be true of very young children, one who <^already knows one 
language will learn another most "naturally," most expeditiously, and most thoroly 
by means of comparison with his mother-tongue ; and this comparison, as was pointed 
out in a preceding section, is an important instrument of discipline and culture. More- 
over, translation is the most effective and the most readily available means of determining 
whether the sense of a passage is exactly understood. It is the best detective of mental 
haziness, half-knowledge, and self-deception. At the same time it should not be forgotten 
that the principal object of study is not to learn to translate, but to learn to read without 
translating. 

How to deal with translation so as to make neither too much or two little of it, so as 
to get the good and escape the evil of it, is not a simple problem for the teacher. It is 
easy to say that good translation should always be insisted on, and that bad English 
should never be allowed to go uncorrected. As a counsel of perfection, this is no doubt 
good. The trouble is, however, that really good translation of real literature is an art 
requiring literary skill. There must be time for the mental balancing of alternatives, the 
testing of synonyms, etc. No one can do it off-hand. To expect schoolboys or college 
students to do it in the ordinary routine of class work is to expect impossibilities. On the 
other hand, slovenly, incorrect, and unidiomatic translation is worse than a waste of time. 
The young person who gets into the habit of murdering his mother- tongue in cold blood, 
under the pretense of learning a foreign language, does himself more harm than good. 
What, then, is to be done ? The practical answer would seem to be this : Between the 
extremes of atrocious English, which should not be endured, and the really good English, 
which is unattainable, there is a wide belt of what may be called tolerable English ; English 
which is not excellent from a literary point of view, but is at least clear, grammatical, free 
from gross improprieties in respect to idiom, and reasonably faithful to the meaning of 
the original. Such tolerable English is all that can be expected in the ordinary routine of 
the class-room. It is, however, desirable that the learner become aware that there is a 
higher ideal, and that he have some practice in trying to reach it. To this end a passage 
in German text should occasionally be given out for a carefully prepared written transla- 
tion, with instructions to take time and make the work just as good as possible. Such 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS III 

translations should then be criticised by the teacher and compared with one another in 
the class. Attention should be called to the small points of idiom, arrangement, choice 
of words, turn of phrase, etc., which make up the difference between the tolerable and 
the excellent. In this way the pupil's literary sense will be cultivated ; he will become 
familiar with the idea of translation as an art, and the effect will be to improve gradually 
the quality of his ordinary work. 

The next question is : How long and to what extent should the routine translation 
of good German into tolerable English be insisted on in the class-room ? The answer is : 
So long as and wherever the teacher is uncertain whether the meaning of the original is 
understood. If there is complete certainty that the learner can translate his passage of 
German into tolerable English, it is, as a rule, not worth while to have him do it ; the 
time can be used to better advantage. An exception may be made, of course, in the case 
of pupils who are for any reason unusually backward in their English, or for such as may 
be suspected of not preparing their lessons. But for capable pupils who have a right 
attitude toward their teacher and their work, there presently comes a time when the 
routine translation in class of what they have previously prepared ceases to be profitable. 
They learn no new German in the process, and they do not improve their command 
of English. For A, B, C, and D, who have prepared their lessons and know perfectly 
well how to translate a given passage, to sit in the class while E actually translates it, 
means a waste of time. When that stage is reached, it is time to drop the systematic 
translation of the entire lesson in class, to call only for the rendering of words or passages 
that are liable to be misunderstood, and to use the time thus gained in some exercise more 
profitable than superfluous translation. 

One such exercise is reading at sight. Since the general aim in the elementary course 
is to learn to read very easy narrative prose at sight, and not to learn to translate any speci- 
fied texts, and since the candidate for admission to college will probably be tested upon 
some text that he has never studied, it is evident that considerable practice should be 
given in sight reading. Teachers sometimes object to this exercise on the ground that it 
encourages guesswork and inaccuracy. But the objection is not valid. The object of 
the exercise is to increase the learner's vocabulary, to make him feel that he can read Ger- 
man that he has not previously studied, and to give him facility in such reading. There 
is not the slightest objection to his guessing at the meaning of a new word. All our read- 
ing is largely a process of divination, and the better we can divine from the context, the 
better we can read. Of course, the wrong guesses must be corrected, and the teacher is 
there for that purpose. It is hardly necessary to say that for sight reading the very easiest 
texts that can be found should be chosen. Grimm's Mdrchen are well adapted for 
the earliest experiments, then Meissner's Aus meiner Welt or Volkmann's Kleine 
Geschichten. 

6. Reproductive translation into German. — It will be observed that the program of 
work for the second year of the elementary eourse provides for practice " in the off-hand 
reproduction, sometimes orally and sometimes in writing, of the substance of short and 
easily selected passages." This is what the Germans call freie Reproduktion, and is one 
of the most profitable exercises possible. It teaches the pupil to give heed, not only 
to the meaning, but to the form in which it is expressed ; to put thoughts in German with 
German as a starting-point. The language of the original should, of course, not be memo- 
rized verbatim ; what is wanted is not an effort of the memory, but an attempt to express 
thought in German forms that are remembered in a general way, but not remembered 
exactly. The objection to independent translation from English into German is that for 
a long time it is necessarily mechanical. The translator has no help except his dictionary 
and grammar. His translation is mere upsetting. In free reproduction, on the contrary, 
he instinctively starts from his memory of the original. His thoughts tend to shape them- 
selves in German form. In short, he learns to think in German. 



112 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

SECTION VIII. THE INTERMEDIATE COURSE IN GERMAN 
A. THE AIM OF THE INSTRUCTION 

At the end of the intermediate course the pupil should be able to read at sight Ger- 
man prose of ordinary difficulty, whether recent or classical; to put into German a con- 
nected passage of simple English, paraphrased from a given text in German ; to answer 
any grammatical questions relating to usual forms and essential principles of the language, 
including syntax and word-formation, and to translate and explain (so far as explanation 
may be necessary) a passage of classical literature taken from some text previously studied. 

B. THE WORK TO BE DONE 

The work should comprise, in addition to the elementary course, the reading of about 
four hundred pages of moderately difficult prose and poetry, with constant practice in 
givmg, sometimes orally and sometimes in writing, paraphrases, abstracts, or repro- 
ductions from memory of selected portions of the matter read ; also grammatical drill 
upon the less usual strong verbs, the use of articles, cases, auxiliaries of all kinds, tenses 
and moods (with special reference to the infinitive and subjunctive), and likewise upon 
word-order and word-formation. 

C. SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER 

The intermediate course is supposed to be the elementary course, plus one year's work 
at the rate of not less than four recitations a week. Suitable reading matter for the third 
year can be selected from such works as the following : Ebner-Eschenbach's Die Freiher- 
ren von Gemperlein; Frey tag's Die Journalisten and Bilder aus der deustchen Vergan- 
genheit — for example, Karl der Grosse^ Aus den KreuzzUgen, Doktor Luther, Aus dent Siaat 
Friedrichs des Grossen; Fouque's Undine; Gerstacker's Irrfahrten; Goethe's Hermann und 
Dorothea and Iphigenie; Heine's poems and Reisebilder; Hoffmann's Historische Erzah- 
lungen; Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm; Meyer's Gustav Adolf s Page; Moser's Der 
Bibliothekar ; Riehl's Novellen — for example, Burg Neideck, Der Fluch der Schonheit, Der 
stumme Ratsherr, Das Spielmannkind ; Rosegger's Waldheimat ; Schiller's Der Neffe als 
Onkel, Der Geisterseher, Wilhelm Tell, Die Jungfrau von Orleans, Das Lied von der 
Glocke, Balladen; Scheffel's Der Trompeter von Sdkkingen; Uhland's poems; Wilden- 
hx\ich.''s Das edle Blut. A good selection would be : (i) one of Riehl's novellettes ; (2) 
one of Freytag's "pictures ;" (3) part of Undine or Der Geisterseher; (4) a short course 
of reading in lyrics and ballads ; (5) a classical play by Schiller, Lessing, or Goethe. 

The general principles of teaching set forth in the preceding section apply also to 
the work of the intermediate course. Translation should be insisted on so far as neces- 
sary, but the aim should be to dispense with it more and more. Every expedient should 
be employed which will teach the scholar to comprehend and feel the original directly, 
without the intervention of English. Occasional exercises in preparing very careful, 
written translations should be continued. Practice should be given in reading at sight 
from authors of moderate difficulty, such as Riehl or Freytag. The " free reproduction " 
should by all means be kept up. It will be found much more valuable at this stage than 
independent translation of English into German. In dealing with classical literature 
thoro literary studies are, of course, not to be expected, but an effort should be made to 
bring home to the learner the characteristic literary qualities of the text studied, and to 
give him a correct general idea of the author. 

SECTION IX. THE ADVANCED COURSE IN GERMAN 
A. THE AIM OF THE INSTRUCTION 

At the end of the advanced course the student should be able to read, after brief 
inspection, any German literature of the last one hundred and fifty years that is free from 
any unusual textual difficulties, to put into German a passage of simple English prose, to 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 113 

answer in German questions relating to the lives and works of great writers studied, and 
to write in German a short, independent theme upon some assigned topic. 

B. THE WORK TO BE DONE 

The work of the advanced course (last year) should comprise the reading of about 
five hundred pages of good literature in prose and poetry, reference readings upon the 
lives and works of the great writers studied, the writing in German of numerous short 
themes upon assigned subjects, independent translation of English into German. 

C. SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER 

Suitable reading matter for the last year will be : Freytag's Soil und Haben; Fulda's 
Der Talisman; Goethe's dramas (except Faust) and prose writings (say, extracts from 
Werther and Dichtung und Wahrheii) ; Grillparzer's Ahnfrau or Der Traum ein Leben; 
Hauff's Lichtenstein ; Heine's more difficult prose (for example, Ueber Deutschland)\ 
Kleist's Prinz von Homburg; Korner's Zriny; Lessing's Emilia Galotti and prose writ- 
ings (say, extracts from the Hamburgische Dramaturgie or Laokoon)-, Scheffel's Ekkehard; 
Schiller's Wallenstein, Maria Stuart, Braut von Messina, and historical prose (say, the 
third book of the Geschichte des dreiszigj'dhrigen Krieges) ; Sudermann's Johannes; 
Tieck's Genoveva; Wildenbruch's Heinrich. 

A good selection from this list would be : (i) a recent novel, such as Ekkehard or 
Soil und Haben, read not in its entirety, but in extracts sufficient to give a good idea of 
the plot, the style, and the characters ; (2) Egmont or Gotz; (3) a short course of read- 
ing in Goethe's prose (say, the Sesenheim episode from Dichtung und Wahrheit) ; (4) 
Wallenstein' s Lager and Wallenstein'' s Tod, with the third book of the Thirty Years' 
War; (5) Emilia Galotti; (6) a romantic drama, such as Genoveva or Der Prinz von 
Homburg. It is assumed that by the time the fourth year is reached, if the preceding 
instruction has been what it should be, translation in class can be largely dispensed with 
and the works read somewhat rapidly. Of course, they cannot be thoroly studied, but 
thoro literary study belongs to the college or the university. It is not sound doctrine for 
the secondary school that one work studied with the painstaking thoroness of the profes- 
sional scholar is worth half a dozen read rapidly. In the secondary school the aim 
should be to learn to read easily, rapidly, and yet with intelligent, general appreciation, 
somewhat as an ordinary educated American reads Shakespeare. Such a person in read- 
ing Shakespeare will find much that he does not fully understand : archaic phrases, 
obscure allusions, etc. If he were to work out all these things in the manner of a 
scholar, and go deeply into the literary, historical, and psychological questions involved 
in a single one of Shakespeare's great plays, it would take a very long time. Neverthe- 
less, he can read the play intelligently in a few hours. An editor's note helps him 
quickly over the graver difficulties, and when he has done he has a good general idea of 
the work, and has been greatly profited by the reading of it. 

The other lines of work suggested for the advanced course appear to require no 
further comment. They explain themselves, and grow naturally out of what has gone 

before. 

« 

SECTION X. THE ELEMENTARY COURSE IN FRENCH 
A. THE AIM OF THE INSTRUCTION 

At the end of the elementary course the pupil should be able to pronounce French 
accurately, to read at sight easy French prose, to put into French simple English sen- 
tences taken from the language of everyday life, or based upon a portion of the French 
text read, and to answer questions on the rudiments of the grammar as defined below. 



114 NA TIONAL EDUCA TIONAL ASSOCIA TION 

B. THE WORK TO BE DONE 

During the first year the work should comprise : (i) careful drill in pronunciation; 
(2) the rudiments of grammar, including the inflection of the regular and the more 
common irregular verbs, the plural of nouns, the inflection of adjectives, participles, and 
pronouns ; the use of personal pronouns, common adverbs, prepositions, and conjunc- 
tions; the order of words in the sentence, and the elementary rules of syntax; (3) abun- 
dant easy exercises, designed not only to fix in the memory the forms and principles of 
grammar, but also to cultivate readiness in the reproduction of natural forms of expres- 
sion ; (4) the reading of from 100 to 175 duodecimo pages of graduated texts, with con- 
stant practice in translating into French easy variations of the sentences read (the teacher 
giving the English), and in reproducing from memory sentences previously read ; (5) 
writing French from dictation. 

During the second year the work should comprise : (i) the reading of from 250 to 
400 pages of easy modern prose in the form of stories, plays, or historical or biographical 
sketches ; (2) constant practice, as in the previous year, in translating into French easy 
variations upon the texts read ; (3) frequent abstracts, sometimes oral and sometimes 
written, of portions of the text already read ; (4) writing French from dictation ; (5) con- 
tinued drill upon the rudiments of grammar, with constant application in the construction 
of sentences ; (6) mastery of the forms and use of pronouns, pronominal adjectives, of 
all but the rare irregular verb forms, and of the simpler uses of the conditional and sub- 
junctive. 

Suitable texts for the second year are : About's Le roi des monlagnes, Bruno's Le 
tour de la France, Daudet's easier short tales, La B^dollere's La M^re Michel et son chat, 
Erckman-Chatrian's stories, Foa's Contes biographiques and Le petit Robinson de Paris, 
Foncin's Le pays de France, Labiche and Martin's La poudre aux yeux and Le voyage de 
M. Perrichon, Legouv^ and Labiche's La cigale chez les fourmis, Malot's Sans famille, 
Mairet's La tdche du petit Pierre, Merimee's Colomba, extracts from Mic'^elet, Sarcey's Le 
^iige de Paris, Verne's stories. 

C. SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER 

The suggestions already offered upon the teaching of ele mentary German are, in the 
main, equally applicable to the teaching of elementary French. While each language 
has its own peculiar difficulties that require special attention from the teacher, the general 
principles that should regulate the work are the same for both. To avoid needless repe- 
tition, we refer the reader back to what is said in Section VII, c, and content ourselves 
here with adding a few further observations which may be regarded as supplementary. 

The educational value of the study of French in cultivating habits of careful dis-" 
crimination, of mental alertness, of clear statement, must never be lost from view, and the 
expediency of an exercise must often be determined by its utility in attaining these ends. 
The knowledge gained in the secondary school alone can rarely be of immediate com- 
mercial value, but it should be a most serviceable foundation for later acquirements, and 
the advocates of oral methods may fairly lay some stress on this consideration. The 
demand for more spoken French in the class-room rests chiefly, however, on other grounds, 
which may be summarized as follows : 

1. Tongue'and ear are most efficient aids to the memory, and he who depends on 
eye alone deprives himself of indispensable allies. 

2. Oral work gives vivacity to the class, stimulates the pupil by active participation, 
and encourages him by making him feel that he is gaining a practical command of the 
language. 

3. In reproducing French sentences several can be spoken in the time needed to 
write one. 

4. The hearer is compelled to grasp the sentence as a whole, while the reader is apt 
to dwell on separate words, distorting and often reversing the sense, which can only be 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 1 1 5 

obtained by making the sentence the unit of thought and interpreting each word in the 
light of its relation to its fellows. 

5. The rapidity of speech also conduces to grasping thought directly from the 
French with no intermediate English. Many readers really read only the English into 
which, more or less laboriously, they change the French words. It is needless to dwell 
on the fact that such readers get their entire thought from a translation, usually a very 
bad one, and can never have any exact perception of literary excellence in French nor 
distinguish shades of meaning different from those to which they have been accustomed 
in English. It is hard to see how such a one can have any vivid conception of a lyric, an 
oration, or a dialog ; nor can he understand how, when translation is required, the 
proper order is French-thought-English, and not French-English, with the thought last or 
never. 

On the other hand, that time may be economically used, rambling, aimless talking 
must not be tolerated in the class-room ; and a teacher who does not possess a good pro- 
nunciation and a ready command of the language generally does far more harm than 
good by practicing on his pupils. Whatever recommendations the committee has made 
as to oral work apply only to those teachers who can speak French well. 

Especially with beginners should the French spoken be accurately pronounced. 
Faults of pronunciation once fixed are very difficult to eradicate. In some places French 
has been introduced into grades below the high school, and the classes intrusted to 
teachers unable to pronounce well. Irreparable injury has thus been done. The utmost 
pains must be taken at the beginning, especially with the vowels ; and the separate 
sounds, and the words containing them, should be pronounced many times by the 
teacher and repeated by the pupil. P'or a long time every new word should thus be 
treated, and, unless a phonetic text is used, the pupil should always hear a new word before 
he tries to pronounce it. 

Careful memorizing and frequent repetition of a few lines of simple prose are 
helpful and furnish a standard of pronunciation to which new words may be referred. 
Both for this and for mastering colloquial and idiomatic expressions, word-order, and 
grammatical forms, it is advised that a small amount of French, preferably simple prose, 
be carefully memorized the first year. Later, selections should be made for their literary 
interest. 

Most teachers know how they prefer to teach the rudiments of grammar in a given 
class. We may remark, however, that it is not for the secondary school to spend time 
over the many pages of exceptions, peculiarities in number and gender, idioms that one 
rarely sees and never thinks of using, and grammatical puzzles for which each learned 
grammarian has a different solution, that form so large a part of some grammars. The 
great universals, however (the regular and the common irregular verbs ; negative and 
interrogative variations ; the common use and meaning of moods and tenses ; the 
personal pronouns and their position ; the general principles governing the agreement of 
adjectives, pronouns, and participles ; the partitive constructions ; the possessives, 
demonstratives, interrogatives, and relatives ; the most common adverbs, conjunctions, 
and prepositions), should all be thoroly understood by the end of the second year of the 
high-school study, and subsequent study should give considerable facility in using them. 

The verb seems most formidable ; but when it is perceived that most forms of all 
verbs may be treated as identically derived from the " primitive tenses," the difficulties 
appear less numerous, and when the principle of stem-strengthening under the influence 
of tonic accent, persisting in the older and more common verbs, is a little understood, the 
number of really unique forms is inconsiderable. 

Translating into English should mean giving in well- chosen language the exact 
thought and spirit of the original. Thus understood, it is extremely difficult, and should 
iiever be attempted by the pupil befQre th^ meaning of the original is clear to him, It is 



1 1 6 NA TIONAL ED UCA TIONAL ASSOC I A TION 

then rather an exercise in English than in French. Nothing should be accepted as 
English which is not English. The teacher who complacently listens while a pupil turns 
good French into bad English is, to put it mildly, not doing his duty. Translating into 
English is often the most rapid means of ascertaining whether the pupil has correctly 
understood the French read, but a few well-chosen questions asked and answered in 
French, or an abstract in the same language, is often equally effective as a test, and far 
better as training in French. 

Just as English should be English, French should be French ; and merely using 
French words and conforming to grammatical rules do not make a sentence French. 
At first, sentences formed by pupils should exactly follow French model sentences, being 
either verbatim reproductions or differing only in simple and immaterial verbal changes. 
Not until the pupil, by much assimilation of French models, has become imbued with the 
form and spirit of the language, can he be safely left to his own invention. In choosing 
reading matter, the tendency is to select something too hard. The teacher adopts a book 
because it is world-renowned, because it interests him personally, because it teaches 
a valuable lesson, moral or historical. While all pedagogical roads should lead to the 
Rome of a broad culture, the attempt to teach literature, aesthetics, history, or morality 
from a work in which linguistic difficulties dismay the pupil and engross his attention, can 
only end by making him detest both the book and its lessons. The beginner in French 
can be taught these things best in the vernacular ; while searching a dictionary to discover 
whether/?/^ comes from faire or irom. falloir, he has little leisure to think of the relative 
merits of literary schools. Give him at first the easiest reading attainable, remembering 
that simple language does not mean infantile conceptions, nor vice versa. Let there be 
frequent repetition, that he may be encouraged by finding that he can cover a respectable 
number of lines at a lesson. Entertain no thought of teaching literature until the pupil 
is quite familiar with ordinary prose and can read page after page of the text assigned 
with no great need of grammar or dictionary. The classics of dramatic literature may 
very properly be postponed until the fourth year, and we do not consider them always 
desirable even then ; but a few have been given among texts suitable for the third year in 
the hope that these rather than others will be selected by teachers who, for reasons of their 
own, choose to read something of the kind at this stage of the course. 

The reading lists are meant to be illustrative simply, not exhaustive. Other texts 
equally good might no doubt be mentioned under each head. The answers to the com- 
mittee's circulars indicate clearly that teachers would not welcome a narrow range of 
prescribed reading, such as teachers of Latin have in their Caesar, Cicero, and Virgil. A 
definite curriculum of that kind would no doubt have its advantages, but in the case of 
the modern languages it is not practicable and, upon the whole, not desirable. The dis- 
advantages would far outweigh the advantages. The mass of available literature is so 
great, the preferences of teachers and the needs of classes so divergent, that the only safe 
course is to leave a large latitude of choice. This being so, it has seemed best merely to 
give examples of the kind of reading appropriate to each year. 

SECTION XI. THE INTERMEDIATE COURSE IN FRENCH 
A. THE AIM OF THE INSTRUCTION 

At the end of the intermediate course the pupil should be able to read at sight 
ordinary French prose or simple poetry, to translate into French a connected passage of 
English based on the text read, and to answer questions involving a more thoro knowledge 
of syntax than is expected in the elementary course. 

B. THE WORK TO BE DONE 

This should comprise the reading of from 400 to 600 pages of French of ordinary 
difficulty, a portion to be in the dramatic form ; constant practice in giving French 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 1 1 7 

paraphrases, abstracts or reproductions from memory of selected portions of the matter 
read ; the study of a grammar of modern completeness ; writing from dictation. 

Suitable texts are : About's stories ; Augier and Sandeau's Le Gendre de M. Poirier; 
Beranger's poems ; Corneille's Le Cid and Horace; Copp^e's poems ; Daudet's La Belle- 
Nivernaise: La Brete's Mon oncle et mon cure; Madame de Sdvigne's letters ; Hugo's 
Hernani and La Chute; Labiche's plays ; Loti's Pecheur d'lslande; Mignet's historical 
writings ; Moli^re's L'Avare and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme ; Racine's Athalie, Andro- 
maque, and Esther; George Sand's plays and stories ; Sandeau's Mademoiselle de la Seigliere; 
Scribe's plays ; Thierry's Recits des temps merovingiens ; Thiers's L' Expedition de Bonaparte 
en Egypte; Vigny's La canne de jonc; Voltaire's historical writings. 

SECTION XII. THE ADVANCED COURSE IN FRENCH 

A. THE AIM OF THE INSTRUCTION 

At the end of the advanced course the pupil should be able to read at sight, with the 
help of a vocabulary of special or technical expressions, difficult French not earlier than 
that of the seventeenth century; to write in French a short essay on some simple subject 
connected with the works read ; to put into French a passage of easy English prose ; and 
to carry on a simple conversation in French. 

B. THE WORK TO BE DONE 

This should comprise the reading of from 600 to 1,000 pages of standard PVench, 
classical and modern, only difficult passages being explained in the class ; the writing of 
numerous short themes in French ; the study of syntax. 

Suitable reading matter will be : Beaumarchais's Barbier de Seville; Corneille's 
dramas ; the elder Dumas's prose writmgs ; the younger Dumas's La question d' argent; 
Hugo's Ruy Bias, lyrics, and prose writings ; La Fontaine's fables ; Lamartine's Graziella; 
Marivaux's plays ; Moliere's plays ; Mussel's plays and poems ; Pellisser's Mouvement 
litieraire au XIX' siecle; Kenan's Souvenirs d'enfance et de jeunesse; Rousseau's 
writings ; Sainte-Beuve's essays ; Taine's Origines de la France contetnporaine ; Voltaire's 
writings ; selections from Zola, Maupassant, and Balzac. 

SECTION XIII. SPECIMEN EXAMINATION PAPERS FOR ADMISSION TO 

COLLEGE 

The complaint is sometimes heard from teachers in the secondary schools — and 
investigation shows it to be not altogether groundless — that, even at colleges having the 
same or very similar requirements for admission, the entrance examinations are apt to 
differ not a little in respect to difficulty and in respect to the general character of the 
questions asked. To a certam extent this lack of uniformity is inevitable. With the best 
intentions examiners will differ more or less in their estimate of difficulty and in their 
choice of test questions. Some will prefer to set a more difficult paper and mark liberally ; 
others to set an easier paper and mark more closely. The only obvious way to bring 
about uniformity in the papers set would be to intrust the preparation of them each year 
to a central committee or bureau (say of the Modern Language Association), which should 
furnish them on demand, in sealed packages and at a fixed rate, to such colleges as might 
wish to receive them. Such a plan would have much in its favor. Under its operation 
there would be no room for criticism of particular colleges. The papers would presumably 
be prepared with very great care ; they would improve in the light of criticism, would 
furnish teachers with a pattern to work by, and so could hardly fail to make for greater 
excellence and uniformity in the work of our secondary schools. The feasibility of such 
a plan would depend largely upon the attitude of the colleges, and whether it would work 
well in practice could only be determined by trial. Difficulties of one kind and another 



1 1 8 NA TIONAL ED UCA TIONAL ASSOC! A TION 

would no doubt arise, but they do not appear in advance to be insuperable. At any rate, 
the plan seems worthy of serious consideration. 

Meanwhile, without wishing to imply an exclusive preference for a written as 
opposed to an oral test (the best plan, wherever practicable, is undoubtedly a combina- 
tion of the two), the committee has thought it appropriate to close this report with a 
series of papers designed to illustrate in a general way the kind of test which, in our 
opinion, the candidate for admission to college may reasonably be expected to pass upon 
completing any of the courses above described. The papers are by no means offered as 
perfect models for imitation, but as an approximate indication of what, in our judgment, 
the college-entrance examination should be. The time required is estimated in each case 
at about two hours. Unless the contrary is expressly stated, the texts are not supposed 
to have been previously studied by the candidate. 

A. ELEMENTARY FRENCH 

I. Translate into English : 

{a) Lui, penche sur sa chaise, regardait dans la cheminde, les yeux fixes. Et tout i 
coup, comme on se taisait, il se tourna de mon cotd et me dit d'un ton de bonne humeur : 

Voici bientot le printemps, monsieur Florence, nous ferons encore plus d'un bon 
tours dans la montagne ; j'espere que cette annee vous viendrez plus souvent, car vous 
avez beau dire, vous aimez ce pays autant que moi .... 

He ! je ne dis pas le contraire, Georges ; mais a ton age, dans ta position .... 
Enfin laissons cela . . . . Et puisque tu restes, eh bien, oui, tu as raison, nous irons 
plus souvent nous promener ensemble dans la montagne ; je suis toujours content d'etre 
avec toi. 

A la bonne heure, dit-il en riant, voila ce qui s'appelle parler. 

Et durant plus d'une demi-heure, la conversation roula sur les fleurs de nos mon- 
tagnes, sur la belle valine de la Sarre-Rouge, etc. On aurait cru que rien d'extraordmaire 
ne s'dtait dit. — Erckmann-Chatrian. 

{b) Le temps dtait sombre, il tombait une petite pluie de brouillard qui dpaississait 
encore I'obscurite, les bees de gaz brulaient mal, et leur lumi^re, rdflechie par les flaques 
d'eau, dclairait la rue ddserte d'une fagon incertaine et changeante. Le jeune homme 
marchait rapidement, son parapluie baissd en avant pour s'abriter de la pluie qui lui frap- 
pait dans la figure. Tout a coup, sans qu'il les eut vus venir ou sortir d'une embrasure 
de porte, il se trouva en face de deux hommes et, surpris de cette brusque apparition, il 
sauta de cotd par un mouvement instinctif et nerveux. II dtait a ce moment a une 
centaine de metres de chez lui, a I'encoignure d'une ruelle qui descend vers la rue de- 
Chare nton. — Malot. 

(c) Un jeune homme plein de passions, assis sur la bouche d'un volcan, et pleurant 
sur les mortels dont a peine il voyait k ses pieds les demeures, n'est sans doute, 6 viel- 
lards ! qu'un objet digne de votre pitid ; mais quoi que vous puissiez penser de Rend, ce 
tableau vous offre I'image de son caract^re et de son existence : c'est ainsi que toute ma 
vie j'ai eu devant les yeux une creation a la fois immense et imperceptible, et un abime 
ouvert a mes cotes. — Chateaubriand. 

IL {a) Write the five principal parts of the three verbs (the forms here given occur in 
I, ^) : vus, sortir, descend. 

{b) Write a synopsis of the conjugation (first person singular of each tense) of se 
rejouir and savoir. 

[c) Write the inflection of : the present indicative of boire and faire; the future of 
pouvoir; the present subjunctive oi prendre. 

{d) Write the forms of the demonstrative pronouns. 

{e) In what ways may the use of the passive voice be avoided in French ? 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS IIQ 

II. Translate into French : 

{a) Here is the pen, shall I send it to her ? No ; do not send it to her ; give it to me. 

{b) Cats anddogs are domestic animals. 

{c) You must give them some white bread and good coffee, if they have none. 

{d) The old man is very well this evening, altho he has worked all day. 

{e) We have just searched for your gloves, but we do not find them in the room where 
■you left them a quarter of an hour ago. 

(/) Why do we weep for mortals whose life and character we scarcely know ? We 
always have them before our eyes. Whatever we may think of them, they are surely 
worthy of our pity. 

B. INTERMEDIATE FRENCH 

I. Translate into English : 

{a) Nulle part, a aucune dpoque de ma vie, je n'ai vdcu aussi completement seul. La 
maison ^tait loin de la route, dans les terres, ecartee meme de la ferme dependante dont 
les bruits ne m'arrivaient pas. Deux fois par jour, la femme du fermier me servait mon 
repas, a un bout de la vaste salle a manger dont toutes les fenetres, moins une, tenaient 
leur volets clos. Cette Proven9ale noire, le nez dcrase comme un Cafre, ne comprenant 
pas quelle Strange besogne m'avait amene a la campagne en plein hiver, gardait de moi 
une mefiance et une terreur, posait les plats a la hate, se sauvait sans un mot, en evitant de 
tourner la tete. Et c'est le seul visa'ge que j'ai vu pendant cette existence, distraite 
uniquement, vers le soir, par une promenade dans une allee dehauts platanes, a latristesse 
d'un soleil froid et rouge dont les grenouilles saluaient le coucher hatif de leurs discor- 
dantes clameurs. —Daudet. 

(3) Amis, loin de la ville, Quelque asile sauvage, 

Loin des palais de roi, Quelque abri d' autrefois, 

Loin de la cour servile, Un port sur le rivage. 

Loin de la foule vile, Un nid sous le feuillage, 

Trouvez-moi, trouvez-moi, Un manoir dans les bois! 

Aux champs ou Tame oisive Trouvez-le moi bien sombre . 

Se recueille en revant; Bien calme, bien dormant, 

Sur une obscure rive Convert d'arbres sans nombre, 

Ou du monde n'arrive Dans le silence et I'ombre 



Ni le flot, ni le vent. Cache profondement ! 



— V. Hugo. 



{c) Denise. Fernand ? 

Fernand. Qu'est-ce que tu veux ? 

Denise. Ou as-tu mis le livre que tu as €\.€ chercher pour mademoiselle de Bar- 
dannes ? 

Fernand. La, sur la table. Est-ce qu'elle est d^ja prete ? 

Denise. Pas encore, mais elle acheve de s'habiller. {Elle prend le livre sur la table.) 

Andre, entrant, a Denise. Je n'ai pas pu vous demander tout a I'heure, devant tout 
ce monde, mademoiselle, si vous etes tout a fait remise de votre indisposition d'hier qai 
vous a empechee de diner avec les amis qui me sont arrives, dont deux sont deja des 
votres. J'espere que ce soir j'aurai le plaisir et I'honneur de vous voir a notre table, ainsi 
que monsieur et madame Brissot. 

Denise. Oui, monsieur, ma m&re m'a deja fait part de votre aimable invitation. 

Fernand, a Andre. Et moi, je vais monter un peu d'avance le cheval de ta soeur 
pourle bien mettre a sa main ; montes-tu avec nous ? 

Andre. Non, nous avons une inspection a. faire avec M. Thouvenin. 

Fernand. A tantot, alors. 

II. {a) Write a synopsis, in the first person singular, including infinitive, participles, 
and imperative singular, of the five verbs (see I, a) : vecu^ tenaient, comprenait, amene, vtf. 



I20 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

{b) What are the general principles governing the use of the indicative, conditional, 
and subjunctive moods ? 

III. Translate into French : 

Tell me, what has kept you from selling that old house, the shutters of vi^hich alvi^ays 
remain closed ? It is quite alone ; at night one hears strange noises in it ; and little boys 
who have to pass near it run away without looking at it. I am sorry you did not sell it 
to M, Andre when you sold him your farm and your brother's. You will do well to 
accept what M. Andre has offered you for it ; and I wish you to go and see him this very 
evening. 

C. ADVANCED FRENCH 

I. Translate into English : 

{a) Tous ces dons sont communs aux orateurs ; on les retrouve avec des propor- 
tions et des degres differents chez des hommes comma Ciceron et ,Tite-Live, comme 
Bourdaloue et Bossuet, comme Fox et Burke. Ces beaux et solides esprits forment une 
famille naturelle, et les uns comme les autres ont pour trait principal I'habitude et le 
talent de passer des iddes particulieres aux id^es gdn^rales, avec ordre et avec suite, 
comme on monte un escalier en posant le pied tour a tour sur chaque degie. L'incon- 
v^nient de cet art, c'est I'emploi du lieu commun. Les hommes qui le pratiquent ne 
peignent pas les objets avec precision, ils tombent aisement dans la rhdtorique vague, 
lis ont en main des developpements tout faits, sorte d'dchelles portatives qui s'appliquent 
^galement bien sur les deux faces contraires de la meme question et de toute question. — 
Taine. 

{b) Les regies g^nerales ne sont que des expedients mesquins pour supplier a 
I'absence du grand sens moral, qui sufht k lui seul pour reveler en toute occasion a I'homme 
ce qui est le plus beau. C'est vouloir suppleer par des instructions preparees d'avance a 
la spontaneite intime. La vari^td des cas dejoue sans cesse toutes les provisions. Rien, 
rien ne remplace I'ame : aucun renseignement ne saurait supplier chez I'homme a I'inspi- 
ration de sa nature. — Kenan. 

{c) Phedre, si ton chasseur avail autant de charmes 
Qu'en donne ^ son visage un si docte pinceau, 
Ta passion fut juste et merite des larmes 

Pour plaindre le malheur qui le met au tombeau. 

Et si tu parus lors avec autant de grace 

Qu'en ces vers eclatants qui te rendent le jour, 
Estime qui voudra son courage de glace, 

Sa froideur fut un crime, et non pas ton amour. 

Aussi, quoi qu'on ait dit du courroux de Thesee, 

Sa mort n'est pas Teffet de §on ressentiment, 
Mais les Dieux I'ont puni pour t'avoir meprisee, 

Et fait de son trepas un juste chatiment. 

— Corneille. 

(d) Du DIeu qui nous crea la clemence iniinie, 
Pour adoucir les maux de cette courte vie, 
A place parmi nous deux etres bienfaisants, 
De la terre a jamais aimables habitants, 
Soutiens dans les travaux, tresors dans I'indigence, 
L'un est le doux sommeil, et I'autre est I'esperance: 
L'un, quand I'homme accable sent de son faible corps 
Les organes vaincus sans force et sans ressorts, 
Vient par un calme heureux secourir la nature 
Et lui porter I'oubli des peines qu'elle endure; 
L'autre anime nos cceurs, enflamme nos desirs, 
Et meme, en nous trompant, donne de vrais plaisirs ; 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS I2I 

Mais aux mortels cheris a qui le del Tenvoie 
Elle n'inspire point une infidele joie ; 
Elle apporte de Dieu la promesse et I'appui ; 
Elle est inebranlable, et pure comme lui. 

— Voltaire, 

II. {a) Explain the two cases of subjunctive that occur in I, {c). 
{b) Point out two cases of poetic inversion in I, (^d). 

(<r) Define aimable as used in classic poetry and as used in modern prose. 

III. Write fifteen or twenty lines of French about the author of one of the preceding 
selections, or about one of the persons mentioned in I, (a). 

IV. Translate into French : 

The following day, at three o'clock in the afternoon, they came to Surgeres. The 
cardinal was waiting there for Louis XIII. The minister and the king exchanged many 
affectionate greetings, and congratulated each other on the lucky chance that had rid 
France of the relentless enemy who was stirring up Europe against her. Thereupon the 
cardinal, having been informed by Rochefort that U'Artagnan had been arrested, and 
being eager to see him, took leave of the king, and returned to the house he occupied, near 
the bridge of La Pierre. There he found D'Artagnan standing without a sword before 
the door, and the three guardsmen armed. 

D. ELEMENTARY GERMAN 

I. Translate into English : 

(a) Ich folgte sogleich dem Boten, und er fiihrte mich in ein kleines Zimmer, das 
seiner schlechten Einrichtung^ nach zu den billigsten des Gasthauses gehoren muszte. 
Auf einem Bette lag eine schone, junge Frau mit geschlossenen Augen und totenbleichen," 
aber edlen und feinen Zligen. Ein Dienstmadchen war mitleidig um sie bemiiht,3 und 
neben ihr im Bette sasz ein etwa dreijahriges, blondlockiges Biibchen, jammerlich^ weinend 
und seine Mutter mit den siiszesten Namen rufend und flehentlichs bittend, sie mochte 
doch die Augen aufmachen und ihn wieder lieb haben. Ich hob den kleinen Burschen 
vom Bett herunter und setzte ihn auf den Boden nieder. Er blieb auch ruhig sitzen, 
seine groszen, blauen Augen unverwandt ^ auf die Mutter gerichtet. Meine Bemlihungen, 
diese wieder zum Bewusztsein? zu bringen, wurden bald mit Erfolg belohnt. Die Frau 
atmete schwer und schlug die Augen auf, aber sie war zu schwach um auf meine Fragen 
vernehmlich^ antworten zu konnen. — Adapted from ILelene Stokl. 

{b) Waldgegend. Vorn rechts ein altertiimliches^ Gebaude ; vor demselben ein 
Tisch mit Stiihlen und einer Bank, unter einem Baume ; links ein Thor ; im Hinter- 
grunde eine Mauer. Vor derselben eine Anhohe.^° 

Hedwig {singt) : Wenn ich ein Voglein war' 

Und auch zwei Fliiglein hatt', — 

Ursula {kommt mil Friihstuck, das sie auf den Tisch stellt) : Du bist ja schon friih 
bei der Hand, mein Kind. 

1 Einrichtung, equ ipment^ fu rnishings. 

2 Bleich, pale. 

3 Bemiiht, occupied. 

4 Jammerlich, piteously. 

5 Flehentlich, imploringly, 

6 Unverwandt, incessantly. 

7 Bewusztsein, consciousness. 

8 Vernehmlich, audibly. 

9 Altertiimlich, ancient-looking, 
^o Anhohe, elevation. 



122 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

Hedwig : Sagst du nicht immer : Morgenstund' hat Gold im Mund ? 

Ursula : Das ist schon recht, dasz du mit der Lerche auffliegst, aber die Vogel, die 
zu friih singen, holt am Abend die Katze. 

Hedwig : Soil ich eine Lerche sein, dann musz ich auch mein Lied fUr mich haben. 

Ursula : Das Lied paszt nur nicht an diesem Ort. 

Hedwig : Aber es paszt zu meinem Herzen. Ja, alte Ursula, ich wiinschte, dasz 
ich ein Voglein war', und auch zwei Fliigel hatt'. 

Ursula : Und wo sollte es dann hinaus ? 

Hedwig : Weit, weit weg ! Uber die Mauer, Uber die Baume, liber den Wald, 
liber das Feld — in die feme, schone Gotteswelt ! 

II. (a) Give the nominative and genitive singular (with definite article) and the 
nominative plural of Boten, Fusze, Zimmer, Einrichtung, Houses, Bette, Frau, Auge, 
Ziigen, Mutter, Frag en, Gestalt. 

(b) Decline thruout the German phrases meaning the new house, my dear friend. 

{c) Give the principal parts of muszte, lag, geschlossen, rufend, bittend, mochte, 
aufmachen, hob herunter, blieb, sitzen, bringen, schlug auf, konnen. 

(d) Give the third person, singular, of each tense in the indicative mode, of bittend, 
blieb, schlug auf. 

{e) What case is governed by each of the prepositions: auf, aus, bei, durch,fUr, in 
mit, Uber, um, von, wegen, zu? 

III. Translate into German : 

{a) Who is that old gentleman with the white beard ?^ Surely I have seen him 
somewhere.^ 

(^) So this is your new house. What a lovely view 3 from this window ! But I do 
not see the old castle 4 of which you told me in your letter. 

(r) He has lived two whole years in Germany, and has just returned. He speaks 
German pretty well, but does not seem to have read much. 

{d) I will do the best 1 can, but you must not expect too much. Perhaps it would 
be better if you should go to him yourself. 

{e) Come now, Hedwig, and eat your breakfast. You are not a bird and cannot fly. 
And, after all,= is it not better to be a pretty girl than a stupid ^ bird ? 

I Beard, der Bart, = Somewhere, irgendwo. 3 View, die Aussicht. 4 Castle, ^aj Schlosz. 
5 After all, a^n Ende. 6 Stupid, dumm. 

E. intermediate GERMAN 

I. Translate into English : 

(a) Die Wohnungen in den Badern von L. sind entweder unten in einem Dorf, das 
von hohen Bergen umschlossen ist, oder sie liegen auf einem dieser Berge selbst, unfern 
der Hauptquelle, wo eine pittoreske Hausergruppe in das reizende Thai hinabschaut. 
Einige aber liegen auch einzeln zerstreut an dem Bergesabhangen, und man musz miih- 
sam hinaufkommen durch Weinreben, Myrtengestrauch, Lorbeerbiische und andere vor- 
nehme Blumen und Pflanzen, ein wildes Paradies. Ich habe nie ein reizenderes Thai 
gesehen, besonders wenn man von der Terasse des oberen Bades, wo die ernstgriinen 
Cypressen stehen, ins Dorf hinabschaut. Man sieht dort die Briicke, die Uber ein Fliiss- 
chen fiihrt, welches L. heiszt, und, das Dorf in zwei Theile durchschneidend, ein 
Gerausch hervorbringt, als wolle es die angenehmsten Dinge sagen, und konne vor dem 
allseitig plaudernden Echo nicht zu Worte kommen. — Heine. 

{b) Bernhard schritt durch enge Gassen nach dem Markte. Er fand die Straszen voll 
von geschaftigen Menschen, die den Fremdling neugierig und forschend ansahen, viele 
Unt^r ihnen in mangelhafter Bekleidung, mit bleichen und vergramten Q^sichtern. Auch 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 1 23 

die Hauser waren mit Einliegern^ iiberfiillt, noch in den Dachfenstern guckten Kinder- 

1 Einlieger, lodger. 

kopfe und hing die Wasche armer Leute. Aus dem engen Hofen horte er Gebriill der 
Kinder, und neben den Hunden liefen grunzende Schweine vor den Hausthiiren. Denn 
viele Landleute waren naeh der Stadt gefliichtet und hausten mit ihrem Vieh gedrangt in 
jammerlichen Wohnungen. Auch der Marktplatz war mit Bretterbuden und Leinwand- 
zelten" besetzt, an welchen armselige Frauen wuschen und kochten und halbnackte Kin- 

2 Leinwandzelt, canvas tent. 

der auf den Steinen spielten. — Freytag. 

Gessler. 
(c) I Nun, Tell ! weil du den Apfel triffst vom Baume 

I The candidate is here supposed to have read Schiller's Tell. If he has not, passage {c) should be 
replaced by another, taken from a classic previously studied. 

Auf hundert Schritt, so wirst du deine Kunst 
Vor mirbewahren miissen. Nimm die Armbrust — 
Du hast sie gleich zur Hand — und mach dich fertig, 
Einen Apfel von des Knaben Kopf zu schieszen — 
Doch, will ich raten, ziele gut, dasz du 
Den Apfel treffest auf den ersten Schusz ! 
Denn fehlst du ihn, so ist dein Kopf verloren. 
[^Alle geben Zeichen des Schreckens.'\ 
Tell. 

Herr, welches Ungeheure sinnet Ihr 
Mir an? — Ich soil vom Haupte meines Kindes — 
Nein, nein doch, lieber Herr, das kommt Euch nicht 
Zu Sinn. — Verhiit's der gnad'ge Gott. — Das konnt Ihr 
Im Ernst von einem Vater nicht begehren ! 

II. {a) Compare the adjectives alt, kurz, bedeutend, wild, dunkel, hoch, ober, erst 
deutsch, ganz. 

(b) Explain the use of sein and ^aben as auxiliaries of tense, and put into German : 
(i) The boy has fallen into the water. (2) He has traveled much, but seen little. (3) I 
have remained too long. (4) I have been sitting in my room all day. (5) You have 
slept two hours. (6) The child has fallen asleep.^ 

I Fall asleep, einschlafen. 

{c) How do the modal auxiliaries differ in conjugation from ordinary weak verbs, 
and how from strong verbs ? Put into German: (i) I will tell you something. (2) We 
cannot go. (3) He had to stay at home. (4) I should like to know. (5) She will not 
be permitted to come. (6) I have not been able to see him. 

{d) In passage (c) explain (i) the plural Schritt, (2) the subjunctive treffest, (3) the use 
of the article in des Schreckens. 

III. Translate into German : 

There was once an old goat ^ that had seven kids.^ One day she had to go out into 

« Goat, die Ziege. 2 Kid, Geislein. 
the woods to get food 3 for her young ones. So she called them all to her and said : " I 

3 Food, das Futter, 

must go away now, and shall not come back till evening. You must all stay in the house 



124 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

and not let anyone in till I come home. If the wolf comes, you will know him by* his 

4 By, an. 

rough 5 voice and his black feet." Soon the wolf came and said : " Open the door and 

5 Rough, rauh. 

let me in. I am your mother and have brought you some cakes." But the kids knew by 
the rough voice that it was not their mother, and the oldest kid looked out of the window 
and saw the wolf standing there and told him to go away. 

F. ADVANCED GERMAN 

I. Translate into English : 

{a) Die Kunst ist lang, das Leben kurz, das Urteil schwierig, die Gelegenheit fliich- 
tig. Handeln is leicht, Denken schwer, nach dem Gedachten Handeln unbequem. Die 
Nachahmung ist uns angeboren, das Nachzuahmende wird nicht leicht erkannt. Selten 
wird das Treffliche gefunden, seltener geschatzt. Die Hohe reizt uns, nicht die Stufen ; 
den Gipfel im Auge wandeln wir gerne auf der Ebene. Nur ein Teil der Kunst kann 
gelehrt werden, der Kiinstler braucht sie ganz. Wer sie halb kennt, ist immer irre und 
redetviel; wer sie ganz besitzt, mag nur thun und redet selten oder spat. Jene haben 
keine Geheimnisse und keine Kraft; ihre Lehre ist wie gebackenes Brod, schmackhaft 
und sattigend fiir einen Tag : aber Mehl kann man nicht saen,und die Saatfriichte sollen 
nicht vermahlen werden. Die Worte sind gut, sie sind aber nicht das Beste. Das Beste 
wird nicht deutlich durch Worte. Der Geist, aus dem wir handeln, ist das Hochste. 
Niemand weisz, was er thut, wenn er recht handelt ; aber des Unrechten sind wir uns 
immer bewuszt. Des echten Kiinstlers Lehre schlieszt den Sinn auf ; denn wo die Worte 
tehlen, spricht die That. Der erste Schiiler |ernt aus dem Bekannten das Unbekannte 
entwickeln und nahert sich dem Meister. — Goethe. 

{b) Alle Morgen wird auf unseren Friihstiickstisch mit der Zeitung eine Bundel der 
verschiedenartigsten Neuigkeiten gelegt : Weltlauf und Privatschicksale, Handel und 
Verkehr, Feuilleton und Theaterskandal, Borse und pikanter Roman. Unter dieser Fiille 
von Dingen, wie Vieles davon ist brauchbar fiir unser Leben und unsere Bildung ? Wie 
Vieles nahrt das heilige Feuer der Humanitat ? Und wie Vieles schmeichelt unseren 
schlimmeren Neigungen und Trieben ? Man sage nicht, dasz hier nur das Angebot der 
Nachfrage entspreche ; die Nachfrage hatte zuriickgedrangt werden kdnnen, ware das 
Angebot nicht so eifrig gewesen. Und wenn es dabei bliebe ! Aber dabei hat es sein 
Bewenden nicht, der Leser erhalt durch die Zeitung nicht blosz den Stoff, sondern den 
Stoff in einer bestimmten Form und Fassung, begleitet von einem entschiedenen, wenn- 
gleich anonymen Urteil. . . . Und mag sich ein eifriger Zeitungsleser noch so sehr und 
so lange strauben, die Meinung des Blattes, das er halt, als die seinige aufzunehmen, es 
kommen erst Augenblicke, dann Tage und Wochen, in denen es ihm bequem ist, wenn 
das Journal fiir ihn denkt, und ist er so weit, dann wird ihm das Denken iiberhaupt zu 
miihsam, und er uberlaszt es ein fiir allemal seinem gedruckten Orakel. — Schonbach. 

II. {a) Without translating, paraphrase the following passage in ordinary German 

prose : 

Es ist der Krieg ein roh, gewaltsam Handwerk. 
Man kommt nicht aus mit sanften Mitteln, alles 
Laszt sich nicht schonen. Wollte man's erpassen, 
Bis sie zu Wien aus vier und zwanzig Uebeln 
Das kleinste ausgewahlt, man paszte lange ! 
— Frisch mitten durchgegriffen, das ist besser! 
Reisz dann, was mag ! — Die Menschen in der Regel 
Verstehen sich aufs Flicken und aufs Stuckeln, 
Und finden sich in ein verhasztes Miiszen 
Weit besser als in eine bittre Wahl. — Schiller. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 125 

{b) Explain in German (i) the use of the uninflected forms roh, gewaltsam ; (2) the 
difference hti^^^xi passen and erpassen; (3) the use of durchge griff en. 

{c) Give the first five lines as they would appear in a report introduced by er sagte. 
(d) Explain in German the meaning of the last tw^o lines. 

III. Write fifteen or twenty lines in German upon the plot of some play or novel 
that you have read. 

IV. Translate into German : 

One of the most beautiful traits in the character of Frederick the Great was his strict 
love of justice. Who does not know the story of the windmill at Potsdam, which the king 
wished to buy of the owner because it stood in his way in the laying out^ of the park of 

1 Laying out, dz'f Anlage. 

Sans-Souci ? The miller refused steadfastly to sell his property, tho the king offered 
him a large sum and promised to have another mill built for him. But the obstinate old 
fellow only answered : " My grandfather built this mill, I inherited it from my father, and 
my children shall inherit it from me." The king now became impatient and said: "But 
you know, I suppose, that I might have your mill for nothing, if I wished." "Yes," 
answered the miller, "if there were no chamber of justice^ at Berlin." Pleased at the 

2 Chamber of justice, das Kammergericht. 

confidence which the old miller had in the Prussian courts, the king dismissed the man 
without further words. 

Calvin Thomas, Chairman, 

Professor of Germanic Languages, Columbia University. 

E. H. Babbitt, Secretary, 

Instructor in German, Columbia University. 

B. L. BowEN, 

Professor of Romance Languages, University of Ohio. 
H. C. G. Brandt, 

Professor of German, Hamilton College, New York. 
W. H. Carruth, 

Professor of German, University of Kansas. 

S. W. Cutting, 

Associate Professor of German, University of Chicago. 

A. M. Elliott, 

Professor of Romance Languages, Johns Hopkins University. 

C. H. Grandgent, 

Professor of Romance Philology, Harvard University. 
G. A. Hench, 

Professor of Germanic Languages, University of Michigan. 
H. A. Rennert, 

Professor of Romance Languages, University of Pennsylvania. 
William B. Snow, 

Teacher of French, English High School, Boston, Mass. 

B. W. Wells, 

Professor of Modern Languages, University of the South. 



126 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SEVEN OF THE 
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 



To the Committee on College-Entrance Requirements of the National Educa- 
tional Association : 

The committee making the following recommendations was appointed 
in 1896 by the American Historical Association to consider the subject 
of history in the secondary schools and to draw up a scheme of college- 
entrance requirements in history. Since that time we have been engaged 
in this work, endeavoring to gather information concerning existing con- 
ditions and tendencies of historical instruction, and to make suggestions 
on the general subject under consideration/ In the statement which 
follows we mark out a system of college-entrance requirements in history 
without seeking to give all the reasons which seem to us to support the 
conclusions presented. 

IMPORTANT PLACE NOW HELD BY HISTORY 

History as a secondary study demands serious attention. The report 
of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1896-97 shows that 
there were, at that time, 186,581 pupils in the secondary schools studying 
history (other than United States history). No statistics have been 
collected to show the number of students studying the history and gov- 
ernment of the United States; but there is good ground for saying that, 
if such pupils were taken into account, the number of history pupils would 
be found to exceed two hundred thousand, and perhaps equal, if not exceed, 
in number those engaged in the study of any other subject save algebra. 
According to the statistics of the Bureau of Education, the number of 
pupils studying history (other than United States history) has increased 
152 per cent, in the last ten years, a rate of increase below that of only 
one subject in the curriculum. These simple facts seem to make it plain 
that college-entrance requirements that are properly based upon the 
work and tendencies of the secondary schools should include a liberal 
amount of history among the prescribed and optional studies. 

PRINCIPLES OF COLLEGE REQUIREMENTS 

In all our consideration of college-entrance requirements in history we 
have endeavored to bear in mind certain facts and principles which we 
conceive to be fundamental, and it may be well to state at the outset what 

1 A statement of the grounds upon whic'h these conclusions are based is made in the report of this com- 
mittee to the American Historical Association. This report is published by Macmillan & Co., 1899, and also 
appears in the proceedings of the American Historical Association for 1898. Besides discussing the value of 
history and its place in the curriculum, the report considers the manner of treating different periods of history, 
and methods of instruction. Articles on the teaching of history in foreign countries and select bibliographies 
for the use of teachers are also included. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 1 27 

we conceive these facts to be, and upon what main principles we have 
drawn up the following recommendations. The great majority of 
secondary schools are primarily not preparatory schools where boys and 
girls are fitted for college. The curriculum must be prepared for the 
purpose of developing boys and girls into young men and women, not 
for the purpose of fitting them to meet college-entrance examinations, or 
of filling them with certain information which some faculty thinks desir- 
able as a forerunner of college work. Many of the academies, and some 
of the high schools, can, without much trouble, meet the requirements of 
a college, however artificial, but the great majority of high schools, and 
some of the academies, have great difficulty in so doing, and it is an almost 
impossible task to arrange the program so that pupils can be fitted for 
more than one institution.' 

We welcome the efforts of the committee of the National Educational 
Association to simplify and unify college-entrance requirements. But we 
believe that the first requisite for the successful accomplishment of this 
task is the recognition of the fact that the great majority of schools are 
not fitting schools for colleges, and it seems to us that any rigid and 
inelastic regime which does not take into consideration the fact that 
schools are working in many different environments and are subject to 
different limitations and conditions cannot be widely accepted or prove 
useful for any length of time. We venture to suggest, then, that in an 
effort to simplify the situation and to relieve the schools from their 
present burdens, two things are essential : (i) that the fundamental 
scope and purpose of the secondary schools be regarded ; (2) that such 
elasticity be allowed that schools may fit for college and adapt themselves 
to local environments and local needs."" 

We feel justified, therefore, as students and teachers, in marking out, 
in a general way, what we think is the best curriculum in history ; and we 
desire to emphasize the thought that history is a peculiarly helpful study 
in a secondary course which is fashioned with the thought of preparing 
boys and girls for the duties of daily life and intelligent citizenship. But 
we do not feel that we should seek to lay down hard and fast college- 
entrance requirements and ask your committee to declare in favor of 
an altogether inflexible regime. It seems to us that the time has 
come when the colleges should recognize the value of history and 
admit to their lists of requirements a liberal amount of historical 
work. 

1 We find, for example, in the catalog of a good high school — a school rather large than small, and well 
equipped with teachers — this typical statement, that a pupil can prepare in that school for one of severa 
universities, but he should know what he intends to do at the beginning of his second year, and that a failure 
to choose accurately in any one semester involves the loss of a year. 

2 It does not seem wise, even if it were possible, to outline the same entrance requirements for the Uni- 
versity of California, the University of Kansas, the University of North Carolina, Yale, Harvard, Tulane, and 
a hundred others. If the curriculum is rigid and inflexible, this means that secondary scho )ls everywhere shoulJ 
conform to the same mold, disregard environment, and come under the domination of external force. 



128 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

CHOICE OF SUBJECTS 

We have carefully considered how the general field of history can best 
be covered, and how much time should be devoted to the work. We 
cannot recommend a short course in general history in which an effort 
is made to cover the whole field of the world's progress in a single year's 
study. Such a general conspectus requires four years' work, if the results 
are to be thoroly satisfactory ; it need hardly be said that three years are 
better than two, and two years are better than one. But we recommend, 
if less than four years is given to historical work, that some portion of the 
world's history be omitted, in order that the portions selected may be 
studied in a manner likely to produce good pedagogical results. Train- 
ing in historical thinking and the discipline coming from a careful 
examination of a limited period — a period large enough, however, to 
constitute a significant part of the world's development — seem to us 
more important than obtaining a bird's-eye view of the whole field. 

We recommend that the four-years' course include the following 
blocks or periods of history. Each of these periods has a certain unity 
and meaning, and they can best be pursued in the order in which they are 
here set down, which follows the natural chronological sequence. 

I. Ancient history, with special reference to Greek and Roman 
history, and including also a short introductory study of the more ancient 
nations and the chief events of the early Middle Ages. The period may 
close with the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire (800), the death 
of Charlemagne (814), or the Treaty of Verdun (843). 

II. Mediaeval and modern European history, from the close of the 
first period to the present time. 

III. English history. 

IV. American history and civil government. 

Each of these periods deserves careful study, and we do not think, as 
we have already said, that less than four years is sufficient to cover them 
all in a satisfactory manner. If only three years can be given to his- 
torical work, three of these periods can be chosen and one omitted. 
Such omission seems to us to be wiser than any condensation of the 
whole. But if it seems best to compress two of the periods into a single 
year, one of the following plans may be wisely adopted : {a) combine 
English and American history in such a manner that the important prin- 
ciples wrought out in English history and the main facts of English 
expansion will be taught in connection with American colonial and 
American political history ; {b) treat English history in such a way as to 
include the most important elements of mediaeval and modern European 
history. 

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COLLEGE REQUIREMENTS 

For convenience of statement we have adopted in the following 
recommendations the term " unit," and by one unit we mean either one 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 129 

year of historical work wherein the study is given five times per week, or 
two years of historical work wherein the study is given three times per 
week. We have thought it best to take into consideration the fact that 
different colleges have now not only different requirements, but also 
entirely different methods of framing and proposing requirements. It 
has not seemed wise to outline historical courses on the supposition that 
all colleges would at once conform to a uniform arrangement. 

1. If a college or scientific school has a system of complete options 
in college-entrance requirements, that is, if it accepts a given number of 
years' work or units, without prescribing specific subjects of study (as, 
for example, at Leland Stanford University), we recommend that four 
units in history be accepted as an equivalent for a like amount of work 
in other subjects. Likewise, that one, two, or three units in history be 
accepted. 

2. If a college or scientific school requires a list of certain pre- 
scribed studies, and also -demands additional subjects chosen out of an 
optional list (as, for example, at Harvard University), we recommend 
that one unit of history be placed on the list of definitely prescribed 
studies, and that one, two, or three other units of history be placed 
among the optional studies. 

3. If a college or scientific school has rigid requirements without 
options (as, for example, at Yale College and the Sheffield Scientific 
School), we recommend that at least one unit of history be required for 
entrance. 

These recommendations (i, 2, and 3) do not seem to us unreasonable, 
and we do not believe that their adoption would impose any burden upon 
colleges or preparatory schools. If the traditional requirements in other 
subjects need to be diminished in order to allow one unit of history in 
any regime of rigid requirements, we do not think that such diminution 
is unwise, because history is now very generally studied, and because the 
training obtained from historical work is an essential of good secondary 
education. It will be seen from the statement that follows (under 4) that 
we do not recommend any particular field or period of history to which 
a year's study should be given. To constitute this unit any one of the 
periods or blocks of history previously mentioned can be selected. 

4. Where a college has several distinct 'courses leading to different 
degrees, and marks out different groups of preparatory study, each group 
preparing for one of the college courses (as, for example, at the Univer- 
sity of Michigan), the use to be made of history requires more detailed 
exposition. In one of these preparatory courses the ancient languages 
are given chief attention ; in a second, a modern language is substituted 
for one of the ancient languages ; in a third, the chief energy is devoted 
to natural sciences ; in a fourth, main stress is laid upon history and 
English language and literature. The general recommendations above 



1^0 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

given will aid somewhat in outlining preparatory courses in history, 
where such definite routes for admission to colleges are marked out : 

A. We believe that in each preparatory course there should be at 
least one unit of history. This recommendation means that classical 
students should have at least one full year of historical work. A course 
which purports to deal with the ''humanities" cannot afford to be with- 
out one year's work in a study whose sole theme is humanity. When 
four years are given to Latin, two or more to Greek, two or three to mathe- 
matics, one, or perchance two, to sciences, some room should be found 
for history, even if the time given to other studies must be diminished. 
If we take for granted that the great majority of secondary pupils do 
not go to college, can we declare that they should go out into life with no 
knowledge of the humanities save that acquired by the study of the 
Greek and Roman tongues ? 

To decide what field of history should be chosen is a matter of con- 
siderable difficulty. We believe it desirable that pupils should know the 
life and thought of Greece and Rome, and the development of their 
civilization ; that they should study the great facts of European history 
after the downfall of the Roman empire ; that they should have some 
knowledge of how England grew to be a great empire, and how English 
liberty developed ; that they should come to know their own political 
surroundings by studying American history and government. We hesi- 
tate, therefore, to recommend that any one particular field be chosen to 
the exclusion of the rest, and yet we think that far better educational 
results can be secured by devoting a year to one period than by attempt- 
ing to cover the history of the world in that length of time. We believe 
that it is more important that pupils should acquire knowledge of what 
history is and how it should be studied, than that they should cover any 
particular field. 

Perhaps it is not impossible in connection with the study of Greek 
and Latin to pay attention to the growth of Greece and Rome, so that 
pupils may be led to an appreciation of the character and essential 
nature of ancient civilization. This is one of the great ends of histori- 
cal work ; and if the humanities can thus be humanized, there will be 
less need of prescribing Greek and Roman history as a distinct subject 
for classical students,' and some other historical field may then be 
chosen. We cannot be sure, however, that such methods of teaching the 
classics will prevail, and we must content ourselves with recommending 
one of the four blocks, or periods, which are marked out in the earlier 
portions of this paper, without designating any particular one. 

B. The secondary course, sometimes called the Latin course, in which 
a modern language takes the place of Greek, presents nearly the same 

I That the desirability of such method is recognized by many classical teachers is shown, for example, 
by the paper by Professor Clifford H. Moore on " How to Enrich the Classical Course," published in the School 
Review^ September, 1898. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 13 1 

problems as the classical course. It does not afford much • time for the 
study of history, and we recommend that some one of the blocks men- 
tioned above be selected. 

C. In the scientific secondary course more opportunity for historical 
study is often allowed, and here, perhaps, two units of history can be 
given. One of them, at least, will naturally be a modern field ; and yet 
it may be said that it is highly desirable that scientific pupils should be 
the study of ancient history obtain something of the culture which is not 
wrongly supposed to come from the study of classical civilizations. 

D. The fourth secondary course, commonly called the English course, 
should have history for its backbone, inasmuch as it is a study peculiarly 
capable of being continued thruout the four years, and offering that 
opportunity for continuous development which the classical pupil 
attains from the prolonged study of Latin. We strongly advise that 
sustained effort be devoted to history, in order that this course may have 
a certain consistency and unity. There are already schools which offer 
history for four years, and give four full units, consisting substantially 
of the four blocks we have outlined. If the four full units cannot ^be 
given, it may be well to offer history only three times a week in one of 
the four years. If only three years can be devoted to the study, one of 
the four blocks must, as we have already said, be omitted, or two fields 
must be compressed in some such manner as that suggested in the earlier 
portion of this paper. 

The general recommendations under this head may be summed up 
as follows : {a) for the classical course, one unit of history, to consist of 
one of the four blocks previously mentioned ; il?) for the Latin course, 
the same ; {c) for the scientific course, two units, consisting of any two of 
the blocks ; (d) for the English course, three units, consisting of any 
three of the blocks, or of two blocks and a combination of two others. 
We strongly recommend that four years be given in this course. 

MORE THAN ONE UNIT DESIRABLE 

It should be said in conclusion that, in demanding but one unit of 
history as the minimum requirement for entrance to a college or scien- 
tific school, the committee does not wish to be understood as expressing 
its approval of this amount as an adequate course in history for secondary 
schools. In this portion of the report we have been obliged to work 
within the limits of the systems of entrance requirements which now pre- 
vail, and to frame recommendations which may be adapted to existing 
conditions ; but we do not believe that a single unit of history constitutes 
a sufficient course — viewed with reference either to the relative impor- 
ance of the subject or to the possibility of realizing the aims of his torical 
instruction within the time that would thus be at the teacher's disposal. 
While it may not at present be feasible for every college to require more 



132 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

than one unit of history, the committee believes that two units should 
constitute the minimum amount offered in any school, and it maintains 
that a still more extended course in history has claims quite equal to 
those that may be urged on behalf of any other study in the secondary 
curriculum. 

ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS 

One subject connected with college-entrance requirements has pecul- 
iar importance in connection with the study of history, namely, entrance 
examinations. Higher institutions which admit students on the basis of 
certificates need have no administrative difhculty in giving large recogni- 
tion to history as a preparatory subject, but in colleges and universities 
which can be entered only after passing examinations the problem is 
somewhat different. The utility of historical study lies not only in the 
acquisition of certain important facts, but in great measure in its indirect 
results in training the power of discrimination and judgment; and it will 
often happen that pupils who have profited largely from their study of 
history will, especially after two or three years have elapsed, show sur- 
prising lacuncR in their stores of historical information. While a course 
in history should be progressive and built steadily upon what has gone 
before, one stage does not depend so immediately upon the preceding 
and involve so persistent a review of earlier work as in the case of lan- 
guages and mathematics, and growth in power of historical thinking is 
much more difificult to measure than progress in mathematical knowledge 
or linguistic facility. These difBculties are present, in some degree, even 
when the candidate is examined on work done in history in the last year 
of the secondary school, but they become exceedingly serious when the 
subject has been studied some years before, or when the course in history 
covers two, three, or four years of the period of secondary instruction. 

The remedy, in our opinion, lies, not in the exclusion or unnatural 
restriction of history as a subject for entrance, but in the reform of meth- 
ods of examination in history ; if the present system of entrance exami- 
nations does not — and it generally does not — properly test the 
qualifications of candidates in history^ it is time to consider how it may 
be changed. Certainly nothing has done more to discredit history as a 
subject for college entrance than the setting of papers which demand no 
more preparation than a few weeks' cram. The suggestions which follow 
are offered in the hope, not that they will afford a final solution of the 
problem, but that they may prove helpful in bringing about a more just 
and adequate system of examinations in history. Their complete adop- 
tion will naturally involve a larger allotment of time to history than is 
now given in examination schedules, and impose a heavier burden upon 
those to whose lot the reading of papers in history falls, but it is not 
likely that the demands of time and energy will prove greater than in 
other well-recognized admission subjects, and it is not unreasonable 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 1 33 

to expect college authorities to make suitable provision in these 
regards. 

The main element in entrance examinations in history must probably 
continue to be the written paper, but it should be set with the idea of 
testing, to some extent, the candidate's ability to use historical material, as 
well as his knowledge of important facts. The information questions 
should not demand the simple reproduction of the statements of the text, 
but should be framed, in large measure, so as to require the grouping of 
facts in a different form from that followed in the books recommended 
for preparation. There should also be questions involving some power 
of discrimination and some use of legitimate comparison on the part of 
the candidate. It is not expected that skill in utilizing historical material 
will be present in a high degree in the candidate for admission to college, 
but the student who has learned how to handle books and extract infor- 
mation from them in the course of his secondary studies has the right 
and the ability to make this count for something toward college entrance. 
As suitable tests may be suggested : comment on caretuUy chosen brief 
extracts from simple sources or modern works ; analysis or discussion of 
more extended passages, supplemented, perhaps, by outline maps or con- 
crete illustrations — anything, in short, which will show the student's 
capacity for taking up a fresh question in a way that indicates some develop- 
ment of the historical sense. Naturally, attainments in this direction will 
be expected chiefly of those who present history as an additional option* 

To many these tests will appear sufficient, but it must always be borne 
in mind that a written paper, even when the questions have been pre- 
pared with great care, cannot yield such decisive results in history as it 
can, for example, in a subject like English composition. The examiner 
should always have an opportunity, particularly in doubtful cases, of sup- 
plementing by other means the information gained from the paper. One 
excellent adjunct is the submission by the candidate of written work done 
in connection with his study of history in school. This may include note- 
books, abstracts of reading, and prepared papers — none of which, how- 
ever, should be accepted without proper guarantee of authenticity and 
independent preparation. Another supplementary test, which is largely 
used in European examinations, and has commended itself to the experi- 
ence of many American examiners, consists of a brief oral conference 
with the candidate. This should be quite informal in character, and 
should aim to discover, if possible, something concerning the personality 
of the candidate and the nature of his historical training, rather than to 
elicit brief answers to a few arbitrarily chosen questions. 

COURSES 

four-years' course in history 

First year — Ancient history to 800 A. D, 

Second year — Mediaeval and modern European history. 



134 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

Third year — English history. 

Fourth year — American history and civil government. 

three-years' course in history 

A 

Any three of the above blocks. This plan seems to the committee better than any 
one of the following : 

B 
First or second year — Ancient history. 
Second or third year — English history, with special reference to the chief events in the 

history of continental Europe. 
Third or fourth year — American history or civil government. 

C 

First or second year — Ancient history. 

Second or third year — Mediaeval and modern European history. 

Third or fourth year — American history, with a consideration of the chief events in the 
history of England. 

D 

First year — Ancient history. 

Second year — English history, with reference to events in later mediaeval history (three 

times per week). 
Third year — English history, with reference to the chief events in modern European 

history (three times per week). 
Fourth year — American history and civil government. 

E 

First year — Ancient history. 

Second year — Mediaeval and modern European history. 

Third year — American history, with special reference to development of English political 
principles and English expansion in connection with American colonial his- 
tory (three times per week). 

Fourth year — American history and civil government (three times per week). , 

Andrew C. McLaughlin, Chairman, 

Professor of American History in the University of 
Michigan. 

Herbert B. Adams, 

Professor of American and Institutional History in 
the Johns Hopkins University. 

George L. Fox, 

Principal of the Hopkins Grammar School, New 
Haven, Conn. 

Albert Bushnell Hart, 

Professor of History in Harvard University. 

Charles H. Haskins, 

Professsor of European History in the University 
of Wisconsiu 

Lucy M. Salmon, 

Professor of History in Vassar College. 

H. Morse Stephens, 

Professor of Modern European History in Cornell 
University. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 135 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE CHICAGO SECTION 
OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY 



Dr. A. F. Nightingale^ Chairman. 

Sir : In compliance with a request from you, the Chicago Section of the American 
Mathematical Society, at its session in December, 1898, appointed a committee to co-oper- 
ate with the committee of the National Educational Association of which you are chair- 
man, by preparing for the use of the latter committee a report "on the scope, aim, and 
place of these studies (mathematics) in the secondary schools and in preparation for col- 
lege, with model courses in algebra, geometry (plane and solid), and trigonometry, with 
methods to be used, time to be consumed, etc., etc." This action was afterward approved 
by the Council of the Society. 

In order that the various phases of instruction in mathematics might be more fully 
represented, it was decided to associate with the members of the American Mathematical 
Society upon the committee several persons not members of the society, these persons to have 
equal voice and vote with the members of the society in the proceedings of the committee, 
but to be designated as associate members of the committee. The associate members are 
Messrs. Lyon and Schobinger. 

The committee held several sessions in December, at which the various problems pre- 
senting themselves were discussed, and a subcommittee was appointed to prepare a draft 
of a report. This was done, and a copy sent to each member of the committee. These 
drafts were returned with criticisms and amendments, upon the basis of which a second 
draft was prepared by the subcommittee and a copy sent to each member of the committee. 
The comments hereupon were discussed by those members of the committee present at the 
meeting of the Chicago Section of the American Mathematical Society at Evanston, April 
I, 1899, and the subcommittee was directed to prepare a third and final draft, which is 
submitted herewith. Since the report is submitted to you directly, and not to the society, 
the individuals concurring in the report are alone responsible for its contents. 

Very respectfully, 

J. W. A. Young, 

Chairman. 

PRELIMINARY REMARKS 

1. Terms used. — The term " secondary school" is used to designate, 
generically, all schools which have courses fitting for college. The term 
includes high schools, academies, and private college-preparatory schools. 
The course of study in the secondary school proper is assumed to cover 
four years. 

The term " the grades " is used to designate the work prior to the 
secondary school. It is assumed to cover eight years. The work of each 
of these years is sometimes alluded to as a "grade,"^the grades being 
numbered in order from one to eight. The child is assumed to enter the 
first grade at the age of six years. 

2. Scope of report. — In determining the phases of topics to be discussed 
and the nature of its detailed suggestions, the committee has been gov- 
erned by the condition of instruction today, rather than the absolute 



136 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

importance in themselves of the topics selected for remark. It was found 
impracticable to discuss the work in mathematics in the secondary school 
without giving quite a little consideration to the closely related ante- 
cedent work in the grades. 

3. Scope of mathematical work. — At its sessions in December the following 
resolutions were adopted by the committee: 

{a) That before the pupils reach the secondary school the work in 
mathematics should be the same for all. 

if) That in the secondary school the standard course in mathematics 
should be sufficient to admit to college ; that this course should be required 
of all pupils, and that the instruction in this course should be the same for 
all pupils. 

(<:) That the main emphasis should be given to such topics as are use- 
ful in later work. 

(d) That the best place for a topic in the course of study is where it is 
most closely related to other topics ; that there should be applications 
of algebra, geometry, and arithmetic to each other, and to various sciences 
and the practical affairs of life. 

CONCERNING METHODS 

Various methods of teaching mathematics are in vogue. The good 
teacher will not tie himself to any one method, but, on occasion, will make 
use of the good features of every one. The committee recommends no 
single method above all others, but whatever method may be used, the aim 
should always be to cultivate independent thinking on the part of the pupil. 
A method which encourages, or even permits, rote work, or mechanical 
manipulations, is radically wrong. The value of the study of mathe- 
matics cannot be realized, not one of its objects attained, unless the stu- 
dent himself thinks, produces. Not to learn proofs, but to prove, must be 
his task. This idea should dominate the instruction from the very begin- 
ning. The independent work should not be left to the close ; not to the 
closing years, nor to the close of the subject in hand, nor to the close of 
the chapter, nor even to the close of the first lesson in arithmetic. 

GENERAL METHODIC SUGGESTIONS 

1. Steps. — The importance of distinguishing the various steps of a 
process, and of taking them one at a time, can hardly be overemphasized. 
This is sometimes irksome to the pupil, and the consequent attempts to 
take several steps at once are responsible for much of some pupils' lack of 
success in mathematics. 

2. Oral work. — In all the subjects of mathematics much stress should 
be laid on oral solution of many easy and carefully graded exercises. 
Principles are just as effectually applied in these as in more complicated 
exercises, and the application is more readily seen. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 137 

3. Testing results.- — The pupil should be taught to test the accuracy of 
his results by applying a check whenever this is possible, and before com- 
pleting any topic he should have acquired sufficient facility in checking 
his work against errors, to rely with confidence upon the correctness of his 
own results, independently of corroboration by the teacher or a printed 
answer. Often a rough estimate of the probable character of the result 
will enable the pupil to detect a glaring error, without the use of a more 
detailed check. Written exercises should by no means all have results of 
a simple form, since pupils are very apt to fall into the habit of thinking 
that the result must be simple to be correct. 

4. Translation. — Mathematics has a language of its own. The teacher 
must be unwearying in his endeavors to teach his pupils to speak the sen- 
tences of the mathematical language with intelligence, and he must be 
ever on the alert to check the tendency to use them as meaningless jargon. 
Here, as in other languages, one who has made some progress shows that 
he has intelligent control of the language by uttering consistent sentences 
conveying ideas. Ability to think in the language is one of the ends 
aimed at, but in the language of mathematics this can be attained only by 
much translating ; the beginner must assure himself that he understands 
the mathematical sentence, by giving its equivalent in ordinary English ; 
and, what is more difficult, must be able to clothe in mathematical sym- 
bols thoughts expressed in English. 

5. Different presentations. — In the fundamentals and in the beginning 
of any subject the committee is decidedly of opinion that one set of defi- 
nitions and style of presentation should be strictly adhered to. After a 
time (and still adhering to the one style of treatment adopted) the pres- 
entation by the pupils of other proofs which they may have found for the 
same proposition, or of different methods of attaining the result of some 
exercise, and the discussion of these in class, is of great value. More may 
often be gained by proving one proposition in three different ways than by 
proving three propositions in the same way. This practice should, how- 
ever, be introduced gradually, grea! care being taken to avoid confusion ; 
and its use should be much increased as the pupils gain a firm grasp of 
the subject. 

Definitions, tho developed in class as needed, should not be left in 
an inaccurate form, nor inconsistent with the analogous definitions of 
later mathematics. Tho in higher mathematics the definitions of the 
elementary subjects may be generalized, it should not be necessary to 
overturn them. (E. g., the circle should be defined as a curve, not as a 
portion of a plane.) 

6. Neatness and accuracy. — Papers written in a slovenly manner, slip- 
shod work, half-guessing at results, and artificial juggling with the quan- 
tities involved, are far too frequently found. The difficulty can be met 
only by persistent training, from the very beginning of mathematical 



138 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

instruction, in neatness and accuracy. In particular, the committee sug- 
gests the use of numerous short written exercises, in which the pupil is 
not hurried for time by the amount assigned, and in which the require- 
ment is made that what he hands in must be accurate and neatly 
arranged. 

7. Synopses. — At the close of each chapter or topic a synopsis in 
schematic form of its definitions, methods, and results should be made. 
The object of this is to correlate the material and to secure that view of 
the topic as a whole which is too likely to be obscured by the details of 
the first study and the working of exercises. This will serve also to bring 
clearly before the pupils that the solution of exercises is not an end in 
itself, but is a means of impressing a connected theory. 

8. Correlation of work. — The subjects arithmetic, geometry, algebra 
should be treated as branches of one whole — mathematics — and each of 
these subjects freely applied in illustrating and broadening the others. 

9. Independent thinking. — Whatever specific method or methods may 
be used in conducting the instruction, the controlling principle must 
be that the pupil is to be kept thinking for himself. The learning of 
proofs, even tho it be done understandingly, is not sufficient. Not learn- 
ing proofs, but proving, should be the pupil's principal activity in the 
study of mathematics. 

ARITHMETIC ' 

The instruction in arithmetic, except as it would properly come up in 
connection with geometry, algebra, and trigonometry, thus adding to 
their interest and usefulness, should be confined to the following topics : 

1. The four fundamental processes with integers, all the computations 
being tested. 

2. Factorization of all numbers up to 100, and some above 100, expo- 
nents being used. The results not to be derived by rule, but from the 
multiplication table. 

3. Easy work by short rule in L. C. M. and H. C. D. ; to be tested by 
seeing whether the quotients obtained by dividing L. C. M. by the num- 
bers are relatively prime, and whether the numbers divided by the H. C. D. 
also give relatively prime results. 

4. Simple work in denominate numbers, only the measures generally 
in vogue being used. 

5. Simple operations in fractions, geometric, i. e., graphic illustrations 
being given, and fractions with large terms being, as a rule, avoided. 
Application of simple fractions to making rough estimates. 

Much stress on cancellation ; actual multiplication or division being 
performed by cancellation wherever possible. 

6. United States money. The commoner measures of the metric 
system; the measures being actually constructed, and measurements 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 139 

performed with them. There should also be rough comparison with our 
own measures. 

7. Decimals : the four rules,with especial attention to the correct pla- 
cing of the decimal point. 

8. Simple problems in percentage ; the fact being emphasized that 
"per cent." means hundredths, or a fraction with 100 for denominator. 
The pupil should be trained always first to ask himself of what the per 
cent, is to be taken. This (the determination of the base) is largely a 
matter of use of language. Making use of " aliquot parts " (where the per 
cent, can easily be converted into such) connects per cent, with fractions 
and helps to prevent rote methods. 

9. Examples in simple interest where the time and rate are given. 

10. The use of the "method of analysis" for the solution of problems 
in simple and compound proportion, and in interest, without ever intro- 
ducing the terminology and machinery usual in proportion.' 

11. The concrete exemplification of che simpler geometric notions and 
facts should begin with the beginning of the arithmetic and be carried on in 
connection with this subject and with drawing during the first six years. By 
the close of this time the leading facts and theorems of geometry, plane 
and solid, should have become familiar by means of concrete illustrations 
and computations (mensuration). The pupil will now, perhaps, himself 
begin to feel the need oi proof rather than illustrations (or will be led to 
feel it by the teacher), and at the beginning of the seventh year this 
transition may be made, and the developing of proofs begun carefully, 
gradually, and as informally as possible. In the seventh year the work in 
arithmetic may permit the informal beginning (as abbreviations) of literal 
arithmetic. The committee recommends that all topics not mentioned 
be omitted from the instruction in arithmetic as such — in some cases to 
be taken up later (in algebra, geometry, or trigonometry), in others to be 
omitted altogether. 

In all the instruction in arithmetic there should be insistence upon 
neatness and upon accuracy; much oral work (object: correct thinking) 
and frequent short oral drills (object : quickness and accuracy); the testing 

I As sufiScient exemplification of the method we give the following : If 48 men can do a piece of work in 
12 days, working 10 hours a day, in how many days of 8 hours each would 40 men accomplish the same work ? 
Arrangement : Men Days Hours 

48 12 ID 

40 ? 8 

Oral explanation : We seek days, so we begin with days. If 48 men accomplish the work in 12 days, i 
man would have to work 48 times as many days as 48 men, and 40 men j^ as many as i man. That is, 
working 10 hours per day. To accomplish it by working i hour per day, it would take ten times as many days 
as when working 10 hours per day, and to do it by working 8 hours per day, \ as many days as when working 
I hour per day. We have now considered all the data, and, performing the multiplication, we obtain the 
result. 

The written work is by cancellation. Nothing is written down except the arrangement and the following 
equation : 

12 . 48 . ^ . 10 . 1 = 18. 

This method makes compound proportion corre^ondingly easy, and dispenses entirely with the confus. 
ing verbiage of the subject. The work is precisely the same, no matter which of the quantities is unknown. 



140 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

of computations, both by rough estimates and exact tests ; avoidance of 
technical terms and formal rules, save where absolutely necessary and 
when the need is felt by the pupil; ideas' before definitions or rules. 

ALGEBRA 

While not recommending any radical alterations in the subject-matter 
of algebra,, as usually presented in our best schools,^ the committee 
desires to emphasize the following points : 

1. The arithmetical side of algebra. — Computations with numbers 
should be constantly introduced, problems with literal quantities being 
worked out or verified with numerical data also. The processes of arith- 
metic, both oral and written, should not be allowed to fall into disuse, 
but facility therein should rather be increased. At the same time, the 
pupil should understand the value of algebra in abridging or simplifying 
computation with numbers, or in proving the correctness of rules of 
computation, and should understand clearly that the devices of mathe- 
matics (especially sclgebra) have the purpose of enabling us not to compute ; 
and that actual computations are usually not to be made so long as they 
can be avoided ; that cancellation is to be resorted to wherever possible ; 
and that to obtain an expression in factored form, or in any form in 
which operations are indicated, is a distinct advantage, not to be sur- 
rendered by needlessly performing the operations. Some of the topics 
omitted from arithmetic should be taken up at appropriate places in the 
work of algebra. 

2. The equational side of algebra. — The equation should be made from 
the very beginning. Very simple problems in words leading to equations 
can be given at the outset. 

I The report of 1896-97 of the Commissioner of Education contains (pp. 457-613) a collocation of the 
entrance requirements of 432 institutions having a course leading to the degree of A.B. Of these institutions, 
346 specify arithmetic as an entrance requirement, the others probably regard it as implied in the requirement of 
algebra. Algebra is required in 412 institutions to the following amounts : 

To quadratics 37 institutions 

Including quadratics - - - - 74 " 

Amount not specified - - - - 201 " 

312 " 

The other requirements are as follows : 

Plane geometry in - - - - 294 institutions 

Solid geometry in ----- 93 " 

Trigonometry in - - . . 4 " 

Conic sections in - - - - - 2 " 

Upon looking over the detailed statement of the requirements for each institution, it appears that the bet- 
ter institutions require arithmetic (explicitly or tacitly), algebra including quadratics, and plane geometry. 

Solid geometry is required by many institutions of high rank, and not required by others of equally high 
rank. The territorial distribution of the institutions requiring solid geometry is interesting. 

Division Total number of Number requiring solid 

institutions geometry 

North Atlantic .... 76 - - 5 6.6 per cent. 

South Atlantic - - - - 61 - - - 4 6.6 " 

North Central - - - - 183 - - 68 37.1 " 

South Central 75 - ' - 8 10.7 " 

Western 37 - - 8 21,6 " 

Total .... 432 - - - 93 21. 5 per cent. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS Mt 

3. Algebraic translation. — What has been said as to the value and 
necessity of translation in general applies with special force to algebra. 
Here the danger of mechanical, or even haphazard, manipulation of 
symbols is perhaps the greatest, and it must be especially guarded against 
by care that the meaning of the symbols, and the reason for the opera- 
tions, be always clear in the pupil's mind. This can be done to a large 
extent by requiring the pupil to give readily and clearly in words the mean- 
ing of the formulae and equations. On the other hand, the danger is 
exaggerated by the use of complicated and long examples, which seem to 
emphasize operative skill merely, and make that appear as the main 
object sought. Better many short examples with the principles always 
clearly apprehended than a few complicated ones with the principle 
obscured. 

(Skill in manipulating long and intricate algebraic expressions should 
also be attained, and for this purpose the use of long and hard examples, 
after the principles and methods of a topic are clearly understood, is 
indispensable.) 

4. Topics to be emphasized. — The following topics require especially 
careful treatment : 

The meaning and use of exponents, positive, negative, and fractional ; 
the handling of the simpler surds ; the distinction between identical equa- 
tions and equations of condition ; the character of the roots of the 
quadratic equation as determined by inspection ; the connection between 
the roots and the coefificients of the quadratic ; the solution of equations 
by factoring ; and the making of the algebraic statements for problems 
given in words. 

5. Secondary-school algebra and college algebra. — It should be the aim 
of the secondary school to avoid taking up any of the topics which are 
customarily treated in college algebra, but rather to secure as thoro a 
mastery as possible of those topics which the college presupposes. It is 
recommended that schools which have hitherto taken up topics anticipa- 
tory of college algebra devote the time gained by omitting them to a 
more thoro study of the topics of the previous head. 

The progressions, arithmetical and geometric (with applications to 
interest, simple and compound), and the theory and use of logarithms, 
might well, so far as the nature and difficulties of the subject are con- 
cerned, be included in the secondary-school course, but as they are required 
for entrance by very few colleges, and are accordingly taken up in con- 
nection with college algebra, the committee recommends that they be 
omitted from the secondary-school course, in the interests of economy of 
energy, and to avoid duplication of work ; until such time at least as, by 
action on the part of the colleges, these topics (or any of them) are 
relinquished as parts of college algebra, and made parts of the entrance 
requirements. 



142 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

These remarks relate solely to the work in dXg^hxd, required of all pupils 
in the secondary school. It is not meant to discourage the offering of 
more advanced courses in algebra ("college algebra") or in trigonometry 
to such pupils as may wish to take them. As these pupils will often 
desire that these advanced courses in the secondary school should be 
accepted by some college as the equivalent of college work, the scope and 
character of the work will usually be determined by the requirements of 
the college in question. 

DEMONSTRATIVE GEOMETRY 

The instruction in demonstrative geometry should not begin with 
a mass of definitions and axioms. All definitions should be introduced 
when needed, and not earlier ; and, as a rule, only after the teacher has, 
by suitable examples and problems, familiarized the pupil to some extent 
with the notion in question, and the pupil himself feels the need of some 
convenient term by which to designate it, or the need of a precise agree- 
ment as to the meaning to be given to a term already used vaguely in 
common parlance. 

Care should be taken to select for the early instruction such proposi- 
tions as are less difficult to understand becaiJ^e less nearly self-evident ; 
those that are more nearly self-evident being reserved for a later stage. 
Such propositions as, "All straight angles are equal," "All right angles 
are equal," should be omitted altogether. 

Oral proofs (i. e., proofs in which nothing but the figure is placed 
upon the board) may well be used in geometry. Later even the figure 
may often be omitted. After the pupil has had some practice of this sort 
with familiar proofs, he will be able to work out the proofs of simple new 
propositions, with the figures only before him, and even if no figure, 
carrying the whole proof in the mind. 

Frequent drills in seeing relations in a given figure (angles equal, 
supplementary ; lines parallel, perpendicular ; triangles equal, similar ; 
etc., etc.) as a general exercise, without having any specific theorem pro- 
posed for proof, are also helpful. The teacher should prepare the figure, 
at first simple and anticipating coming propositions ; later more compli- 
cated and unlike any of the figures of the text. 

As to subject-matter, the propositions taken up may be divided into 
two classes : fundamental propositions and exercises. The fundamental 
propositions together constitute the nucleus or skeleton of the subject, 
being that minimum which all pupils alike should know. They should 
be reduced to as small a compass as possible. All other propositions 
constitute the class we have called exercises. The proofs of the exercises 
are to be based upon the fundamental propositions. Every course in 
geometry should invariably include all the fundamental propositions and 
a large number of exercises ; the selection of the latter may vary from 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 143 

year to year. It is not at all implied here that the proofs of the funda- 
mental propositions may not also be obtained as original exercises. 

What has been said applies to both plane and solid geometry. A word 
may be added as to the use of models in solid geometry. While not 
wishing to undervalue models which are presented to the pupils ready- 
made, the committee believes that, as a rule, the pupils gain more by 
constructing their own models, and that this can be done very easily in 
a sufficient number of theorems. Some pieces of cardboard, darning 
needles, and thread constitute apparatus sufficient for making models of a 
large class of propositions. Another large class ot models can be cut out 
of potatoes. A broomstick furnishes all the models needed for the 
cylinder. An orange will do fairly well for the sphere, but a small slated 
globe in the hand of each pupil is better. 

The attempt has been successfully made to teach geometry by inter- 
weaving solid and plane geometry from the outset. While the committee 
is not prepared to commend this, there are advantages to be gained by 
beginning solid geometry before plane geometry is completed. In the 
opinion of the committee, the restriction of the study of geometry in 
many secondary schools to plane geometry is unfortunate, and it is desir- 
able that the school course and the college-entrance requirement in 
geometry should cover both plane and solid geometry. 

The notions and results of modern geometry may be used with 
advantage, but only so far as they actually simplify or make clearer the 
topic in hand. 

The work in demonstrative geometry should be accompanied by con- 
struction and measurement. E. g., in connection with similar triangles, 
pupils may measure distance of some inaccessible object, simply measur- 
ing base line and two angles, and then drawing to scale. Of course, the 
work is crude, but this form of exercise opens a new window in the child's 
mind. 

In the work in geometry, arithmetic, and also algebra (so far as 
this subject has been developed), should be frequently applied. 

TRIGONOMETRY 

Trigonometry is at present usually not required in the school curricu- 
lum ; to prepare pupils for admission to certain technical schools and 
colleges, it is sometimes taught in the schools. When thus taught, the 
subject-matter taken up is determined by the requirements of the institu- 
tions in preparation for which it is taught. 

There is, however, no intrinsic reason why the elements of plane 
trigonometry should not be an integral part of the school course in mathe- 
matics ; it can be developed well in continuation of algebra and plane 
geometry, and is a fitting sequel to them. The matter should be restricted 
to that needed for the solution of plane triangles — numerous, but simple 



144 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

applications to the determination of heights and distances should be 
made. 

To avoid duplication of work, the introduction of plane trigonometry 
into the school course (like that of certain portions of algebra mentioned 
above) should be an action of school and college jointly. 

The trigonometric functions should be defined as ratios, and the whole 
treatment should be based upon the ratio definitions exclusively. 

Before logarithmic tables are introduced, sufficient training should 
have been given in the solution of problems by means of the natural 
functions to make the pupils regard these as the real functions ; log sin., 
log COS., etc., appearing merely as tools. 

The object of a logarithmic table is to abridge computations. Those 
tables are accordingly to be preferred which furnish such aids to interpo- 
lation that the value sought may be read off quickly with the desired 
degree of accuracy and without side computations. 

DISTRIBUTION 
I. IN THE GRADES 

The committee believes that the work in arithmetic outlined by it can 
be completed in the seventh grade, and that in this grade half the time 
can be given to demonstrative geometry. In all the preceding grades 
concrete geometry should be interwoven with arithmetic and with 
drawing. The transition to demonstrative geometry will thus not be 
abrupt, but will find the pupil prepared for it. The introduction of dem- 
onstrations into the concrete work should be gradual and informal ; there 
should be much demonstration before the machinery and technical termi- 
nology of demonstrations are introduced. In the eighth grade demonstra- 
tive geometry would continue to occupy half the time, and the other half 
would be devoted to the beginning of algebra. This should be a natural 
growth of the arithmetic ; the use of letters to stand for numbers may be 
introduced even earlier in formulating rules ; as, " The area of a rectangle 
is equal to the length times the breadth, " ^ = LB. The equation with 
one unknown quantity may also be introduced informally as occasion 
may arise. Under favorable circumstances the following ground could 
perhaps be covered in the grammar grades : 

Geometry. — Lines, angles, triangles, parallelograms, elements of the 
circle. 

Algebra. — The four fundamental operations with positive and negative 
numbers ; simple cases of factoring under multiplication ; simple equa- 
tions with one unknown, and problems leading to such equations. 

In the work in these subjects and in their further development 
in the secondary school, numerical applications of the results should 
be made continually. These applications should lead to computations 
sufficiently difhcult to keep in practice the facility in computation gained 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 145 

in arithmetic, and to increase it. Stress should be laid on the simplifica- 
tions in computations which may often be made by the literal notation of 
algebra. 

In suggesting this course of study for the grammar grade, the com- 
mittee realizes that in many places it would be impracticable to adopt the 
suggestions at once as a whole. In fact, under some circumstances the 
committee would not encourage, but would actually discourage, the imme- 
diate and complete adoption of its suggestions. On the other hand, in 
cases where some (perhaps a large part) of the suggestions of the com- 
mittee are already in force, and where the corps of teachers is prepared 
to adapt its work to the new plan, there would be no obstacle, but indeed 
a distinct gain, in putting the committee's suggestions as a whole into 
immediate operation. The committee believes that the suggestions made 
(followed, if need be, gradually) are generally feasible. 

The study of demonstrative geometry should in all cases be begun 
before that of algebra. Geometry is less abstract, less artificial, lends 
itself less readily to mere mech^-nical manipulations, and is more easily 
illustrated by concrete and familiar examples than algebra. 

II. IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 

The great desideratum for the distribution of mathematics in the 
secondary school is that it should be studied thruout each of the four 
years of the course. It is not meant by this that more time should be 
given to mathematics, but that this time should be distributed over the 
entire secondary-school course. The committee recommends no specific 
distribution over the four years of the hours now given to mathematics, 
but simply the general rule that there be work in mathematics required of 
all thruout the course, and that in no year less than two hours weekly be 
given to mathematics during the whole year. 

If in any school it is altogether impracticable to take up mathematics 
in each of the four years, the state of affairs is to be deplored. If a year 
must be left free from mathematics, the committee recommends that it be 
the second or the first year. 

The distribution of the subject-matter over the various years will be 
influenced by the distribution of the hours. The same general princi- 
ples would, however, govern in all cases ; of these are : 

I. The study of geometry should be begun before that of algebra. 
Reasons for this have already been indicated. 
■ 2. When algebra has been begun, the two subjects should be carried 
on simultaneously in each year of the remainder of the four years. By 
simultaneously is meant simply in the same year. It is not necessary that 
the hours of instruction be given to each alternately. The division may 
even be the first half year to one (geometry) and the second half year to 
the other (algebra), but this arrangement is not to be preferred. 



L 



146 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

3. The work of the fourth year should include a review of all of the 
previous work of the course, with the aim to extend, broaden, deepen, 
and correlate what has already been done. 

4. The instruction in mathematics of each class or section of a class 
should be, as far as practicable, in the hands of the same instructor for at 
least two years. It is still more important that, instead of trying to plan 
the assignment of work so that certain teachers do " first-year work," 
others "second-year work," etc., year after year, the aim should be to plan 
the assignment so that each teacher habitually teaches all the mathemati- 
cal subjects, tho not necessarily all in one year. 

5. Under no circumstances should an instructor who has not qualified 
himself especially to teach mathematics be intrusted with a class in mathe- 
matics simply because he may have a vacant hour which must be filled up. 

Thruout the course (and especially in the last year) the more the sub- 
jects can be interwoven, and made to illustrate and support each other, 
the better. The teacher should not hesitate to introduce a geometric illus- 
tration or a geometric truth into algebra, nor to avail himself in algebra 
of apt occasions for recalling previous geometric theorems, or developing 
and discussing new ones. Quite similarly, algebraic proofs and methods 
should be freely used in geometry, and, as need arises, new algebraic 
results established. It is quite wrong to teach geometry and algebra (and 
arithmetic) in the high school as subjects so essentially different that the 
purity of the one would be impaired by the use of the methods and results 
of the other. 

PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 

The preparation of teachers for high-school work should include a 
good college course, with special attention to mathematics, either by^elect- 
ives during the course or by some graduate study. The minimum attain- 
ment in mathematics should include analytic geometry, a first course in 
the calculus, and the elements of the theory of equations (including 
determinants). 

The committee regards it as desirable that the teacher should have 
paid some attention, under guidance, to the pedagogy of mathematics 
(problems, means, and methods of instruction, if practicable, seeing 
actual teaching and discussing it afterward), before beginning his own 
teaching. Still more important is it that his first teaching should be 
under the careful supervision of an experienced teacher of mathematics. 
If possible, his first year or two of service should be explicitly and actu- 
ally under the direction and guidance of older teachers. Perhaps each 
beginner may be assigned by his principal to some specific teacher of 
experience and tact, for supervision and counsel. The relation will be 
more or less formal, under varying circumstances ; but it should always 
be actual and effective, never merely nominal ; it should involve personal 
consultation, mutual class-room visits, friendly, careful advice. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 147 

Much can be accomplished in this way. At present young teachers 
of no experience, having no pedagogic preparation, are often put into 
full charge of classes, and receive no assistance, no advice, no encourage- 
ment from their more experienced colleagues. They have as model only 
some recollections. of their impressions (as pupils) of the teaching which 
they received. They profit as best they can by their own experience, and 
learn from their own mistakes. Some never appreciate their shortcom- 
ings or how to remedy them ; even for the best it is a devious and painful 
path to excellence, which might be shortened and eased by the judicious 
counsel of one who had traversed the path himself. 

In institutions where there are several teachers of mathematics it would 
be well for them to meet statedly for the discussion of questions of local 
administration, of pedagogy, of mathematical topics ; perhaps the system- 
atic study together of some mathematical study could be undertaken. 
(Among the suitable subjects for such study are the following : modern 
synthetic geometry, analytic geometry, the differential and integral calcu- 
lus, determinants, the theory of equations, analytic mechanics, the history 
of mathematics.) 

It is very desirable that the teacher be making year by year new acqui- 
sitions of mathematical knowledge. 

CORRELATION OF WORK 

Mathematics is unique in the extent to which it builds on previous 
work. Hence secondary-school work should be correlated as closely as 
possible both with grade work and with college work. The division of 
the work in mathematics into three portions, carried on in different 
institutions (grades, secondary-school, college) differing in management, 
methods, and aims, and with teachers differing radically in type of prepa- 
ration, causes a great waste of teaching energy. Much can be done to 
diminish this waste by close relations between the teachers of the three 
divisions, and the comparison of results and adaptation of work to mutual 
needs. The relationship may be official or unofficial, formal supervision 
or friendly suggestion ; it should, however, never be a mere form, but a 
cordial co-operation for strengthening and unifying the work in mathe- 
matics in grades, secondary schools, and colleges. 

LIBRARY 

Every secondary school should have for the use of the pupils, and 
especially of the teachers, a carefully selected library of reference-books 
in mathematics (standard elementary texts, histories, tables, books of 
problems and recreations, and advanced mathematical works suited to the 
needs of the teachers). Measuring instruments should also be pro- 
vided. 



i 



148 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS 

The most important of the conclusions which were reached by the 
committee are the following : 

1. To the close of the secondary-school course the required work in 
mathematics should be the same for all pupils. 

2. The formal instruction in arithmetic as such should terminate with 
the close of the seventh grade. 

3. Concrete geometry should be a part of the work in arithmetic and 
drawing in the first six grades. 

4. One-half of the time allotted to mathematics in the seventh grade 
should be given to the beginning of demonstrative geometry. 

5. In the eighth grade the time allotted to mathematics should be 
divided equally between demonstrative geometry and the beginning of 
algebra. 

6. In the secondary school, work in mathematics should be required 
of all pupils thruout each of the four years of the course. 

7. Wherever, from local conditions, it is necessary to defer the begin- 
ning of geometry and algebra to the secondary school, here, likewise, 
geometry should be begun before algebra. 

8. When once begun, the subjects of geometry and algebra should be 
developed simultaneously, in so far, at least, that both geometry and alge- 
bra should be studied in each of the four years of the secondary-school 
course. 

9. The unity of the work in mathematics is emphasized, and the cor- 
relation and interapplication of its different parts recommended. 

10. The instruction should have as its chief aim the cultivation of 
independent and correct thinking on the part of the pupil. 

11. The importance of thoro preparation for teachers, both in mathe- 
matical attainments and in the art of teaching, is emphasized. 

J. W. A. Young, Chairman, 

Assistant Professor of Mathematical Pedagogy in the Univer- 
sity of Chicago. 

J. J. ScHOBiNGER, Secretary, 

Principal of the Harvard School, Chicago. 

Ellery W. Davis, 

Professor of Mathematics in the University of Nebraska. 

Thomas F. Holgate, 

Professor of Applied Mathematics in Northwestern University 

L. S. HULBURT, 

Collegiate Professor of Mathematics in Johns Hopkins Uni- 
V ersity. 



COLLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 149 

C. W. Lyon, Jr., 

Principal of Grammar School No. 78 (formerly Professor of 
Mathematics in the Boys' High School), Brooklyn, N. Y. 

H. B. Newson, 

Associate Professor of Mathematics in Kansas State Univer- 
sity. 

W. F. Osgood, 

Assistant Professor of Mathematics in Harvard University. 
James Byrnie Shaw, 

Department of Mathematics in Michigan Military Academy. 

B. M. Walker, 

Professor of Mathematics in the Mississippi Agricultural and 
Mechanical College. 



ISO NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



SCIENCE IN THE GRADES 



"Nature study" is hard to define, as it has been made to include a 
very miscellaneous collection of observations. Its purpose is to bring 
young pupils into direct contact with nature. Its chief failure has been 
due to the fact that this observation of nature has been often interpreted 
to mean exercises which are of no significance, which mean nothing 
when done, which are really dead mechanical work. The failure to pre- 
sent things of real importance arises from the fact that the teachers do 
not have sufficient knowledge to distinguish them. Another danger 
which is constantly confronting nature study is the tendency to make it a 
wildly imaginative and emotional subject. When a very young pupil is 
being trained to observe, the facts must be made to glow with interest, 
but not at the expense of truth or of training in the scientific habit of 
mind. 

As one of the first tendencies that exhibit themselves in children is 
interest in natural phenomena, it seems natural to take advantage of this 
interest in the very earliest period of formal education. When observa- 
tional work is lacking, and the whole contact is with conventional forms 
of training, the interest in observing natural phenomena fades away, and 
very few pupils are able to survive such treatment and retain the early 
impulse toward nature. 

To keep the "tentacles of inquiry" functional, if not to develop 
them, at least two exercises in nature study each week should be provided 
thruout the entire pre-high-school period. Numerous sciences should be 
made to contribute a great variety of material, and no science should be 
presented in an organized form. The most available material should be 
selected, without any reference to scientific sequence. The material 
should be obvious (entering into the experience of the pupils), important, 
and interesting. It should be suggested by the observed interests of the 
pupils rather than by some pedagogical theory. It should be deliberately 
varied and fragmentary, and should result in that miscellaneous collection 
of impressions which comes to an untrained but interested observer, with- 
out any definite organization. The knowledge of the wide-awake country 
boy who lives out of doors is probably the best illustration of the kind 
of knowledge nature study is expected to bring — a magnificent background 
of experience for the formal organization of the sciences in secondary- 
school and college courses. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 151 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 



PRELIMINARY 



Augustus F. Nightingale y Ph.D., Chairman of the Committee on College- 
Entrance Requirements of the National Educational Association : 

I have the honor to submit the following as the report of the Sub- 
committee on Physical Geography, appointed under the auspices of the 
National Educational Association : 

On February 24 I received a letter from Professor Charles S. 
Palmer, corresponding secretary of the Committee on Science of the 
National Educational Association, requesting me to assume the functions 
of chairman of the Subcommittee on Physical Geography, and formulate 
a final report to be submitted to you, in view of the fact that Professor 
Albert P. Brigham, who had been appointed chairman of that subcom- 
mittee, had departed for Europe in the hope of restoring his impaired 
health. Altho somewhat doubtful as to the legality of my appoint- 
ment as chairman, I deemed it best to comply with the request of 
Professor Palmer. 

At that late date it was, of course, impracticable to make arrange- 
ments for a meeting of the subcommittee. A preliminary report had 
been agreed upon at a meeting attended by five members of the subcom- 
mittee, in Springfield, Mass., in July, 1898. It was believed that the 
views expressed in that preliminary report would be in the main approved 
by other members of the subcommittee, most of whom had expressed 
their opinions more or less fully in correspondence with Professor Brig- 
ham. It seemed to me, accordingly, that the best course practicable was 
to submit as a final report that preliminary report, with such notes, or 
appendices as might be suggested by correspondence with other members 
of the committee, or by my own reflections upon the subjects of the 
report. I accordingly addressed a letter to each member of the subcom- 
mittee, whether present at the Springfield meeting or absent therefrom, 
excepting two members who were known to be out of the country, 
informing them of the plan adopted, and requesting them to communi- 
cate to me immediately any suggestions they might deem important as to 
notes or appendices which should be added to the preliminary report. 
A copy of that report was transmitted with the letter to each member of 
the subcommittee. In addition to the members named in the prelimi- 
nary report, a copy of the letter was sent to George R. Twiss, head 
science teacher. Central High School, Cleveland, O., who had been 
, appoiiited as a representative of the North Central Association, but 



I 



152 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

whose name had not been received by Professor Brigham in season for 
him to be invited to the meeting at Springfield in July, 1898. The cor- 
respondence indicates that the preliminary report may be regarded as 
expressing substantially the views of all, or nearly all, the members of the 
subcommittee, altho there is, of course, difference of opinion upon 
some details. The report is indorsed, either unqualifiedly or with criti- 
cism of unimportant details, by J. H. Jameson, instructor in physics, 
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; George R. Twiss, head science 
teacher. Central High School, Cleveland, O. ; Ralph S. Tarr, professor 
of dynamical geology and physical geography, Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y. ; and Robert H. Cornish, assistant in physics. Girls' High 
School, New York city. G. L. Collie, professor of geology, Beloit Col- 
lege, was unable, on account of illness, to examine and criticise the 
report. It appears that no member of the subcommittee has expressed 
radical dissent from the views set forth in the preliminary report. 

It is only necessary to remark further that the few notes which I have 
deemed it proper to add to the report are distinguished from the notes 
which originally formed a part of it, being inclosed in brackets. 

COMMITTEE ON PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY TO THE NATURAL SCIENCE DEPART- 
MENT OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

To the Natural Science Department of the National Educational Association : 
The committee appointed to.consider the course in physical geography 
in secondary schools would respectfully report as follows : 

The decision of the department at the Milwaukee meeting, to double 
the membership of the several natural-science committees, occasioned seri- 
ous delay in the work. Diligent efforts were made to secure the addi- 
tional appointments for geography. It was found in March last that 
three vacancies still remained ; but, in order to prepare a report in time 
for the meeting at Washington, with the approval of Professor C. S. 
Palmer, the general secretary of the committee, work was undertaken, the 
committee being constituted as follows : 

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION 

William North Rice, professor of geology, Wesleyan University. 
W. H, Snyder, master in science, Worcester Academy. 

MIDDLE states ASSOCIATION 

Albert Perry Brigham, professor of geology, Colgate University, chairman. 
J. M. Jameson, professor in Pratt Institute. 

NORTH central ASSOCIATION 

G. L. Collie, professor of geology, Beloit College. 

SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION 

Collier Cobb, professor of geology, University of North Carolina. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 153 

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 

Ralph S. Tarr, professor of dynamical geology and physical geography, Cornell 
University. 

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCE, NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

W. M. Davis, professor of physical geography, Harvard University. 
R. H. Cornish, assistant in physics, Girls' High School, New York city. 

The chairman prepared a preliminary list of questions for criticism 
by the several members of the committee. The following circular of 
inquiry was then issued as a b^sis of work for members of the committee 
and others : 

1. Should a high school offer the following subjects under the general head of geo- 
graphy ? Mathematical geography, meteorology, oceanography, physiography of the land, 
distribution of organisms, economic geography, geology. If geology is included, what 
parts of the subject should be taught ? What topics should economic geography embrace ? 

2. In what year or years of the high-school course should physical geography have 
place ? What studies should precede or follow ? 

3. What preparation in geography is to be expected from the elementary schools ? 

4. Outline of work for one- and two-year courses, including order and time allotment 
for subjects named in i, and number of periods per week. 

5. Place of geography in college-entrance requirements. Should geography be elect- 
ive or required in so-called English courses? In classical courses? To what extent 
may geography be presented as a substitute for other subjects, particularly for other 
sciences ? 

6. Text-books. 

7. Laboratory work ; how related to lectures and recitations ; outline of laboratory 
courses ; use of notebooks ; amount and character of field work to be done ; modifications 
in field work or substitutions for it, in city schools. 

8. Standard equipment of maps, models, photographs, lantern slides, specimens, and 
apparatus, for class-room and laboratory. 

9. Lists of books in geography recommended for school or teacher's library. 
10. Any other phase of the subject deemed important. 

The several individual discussions thus prepared were embodied in 
this report, which was amended and approved at a meeting of the com- 
mittee held in Springfield, Mass., July 1-2, 1898. Only those who were 
able to be present at this meeting have signed the report. The gentle- 
men who were not present cannot be held responsible for the views here 
expressed, but they have all made valuable contributions to the paper, 
and are believed to be in accord with most of its positions. In the case 
of the signers of this report, it is not to be understood that every one 
approves of every proposition announced as the opinion of the majority 
of the committee, tho all do find themselves in cordial harmony with the 
views of the report as a whole. 

I 

The committee finds itself in agreement as to the scope of physical 
geography, and as to the topics which should constitute parts of a high- 
school course in this subject. The meaning and general scope of physi- 
cal geography have never been better expressed than in the words, "the 



V 



154 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

physical environment of man," used by the conference on geography in 
its report to the Committee of Ten, On the whole, the term *' physical 
geography " is to be preferred to " physiography," as having in common 
usage a more precise definition. Physiography, in the English sense of a 
general introduction to all sciences, is too broad ; and in the sense in 
which it is now employed by some American students it is not broad 
enough. The ideal high-school course in physical geography will neither 
be too general and fragmentary, nor too special and difficult. The sub- 
ject should be carefully held to the leading idea of the physical environ- 
ment of man ; and it should be the aim to exclude a number of subjects 
frequently treated under physical geography, but more appropriately 
included under the other heads, for example, purely astronomical matter, 
certain principles of physics, the classification of animals and plants, and 
tables of the geological periods. Important and interesting as these sub- 
jects are in their proper connections, it is believed that a better mental 
discipline will be obtained from physical geography when all its parts are 
closely joined to its leading theme. It may thus provide an intellectual 
training comparable in value to that secured from physics, mathematics, 
or language, in which continuity of theme is so well maintained. 

It is agreed that the earth as a globe, the atmosphere, the ocean, and 
the lands should be the principal themes of the course. Here one may, 
if preferred, use the more formal terms, mathematical geography, meteor- 
ology, oceanography, and geomorphology. A serious objection to these 
terms is that they do not sufficiently take human relations into account. 
If, however, they are employed, it is to be understood that the character 
of high-school work, as well as the limited time at disposal, forbid the 
giving of extended courses in these subjects. They must all, and espe- 
cially the three former, be given in an elementary way, and all must be 
taught with the motive and from the special point of view of physical 
geography, as defwied above. 

The distribution of organisms should not be taught with reference to 
zoological and botanical classification, but in exposition of the organic 
environment of man, and as itself controlled by physiographic and other 
influences. Pupils should be taught the tendency of species to diffuse 
themselves, and the limitation of the tendency by climatic, oceanic, and 
topographic barriers. It will, for example, be easy to teach the influence 
of temperature in the establishment of zones of animal and vegetable 
life. The difference in the effects of deep and shallow seas as barriers to 
distribution should be illustrated by reference to Wallace's line, and to 
the faunas and floras of continental and oceanic islands. The depth and 
texture of soils and the quantity and distribution of ground water should 
be explained in relation to their control over the distribution of plants 
and population. The whole subject may be treated by incidental refer- 
ences in the chapters on the atmosphere, the ocean, and the lands, or may 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 155 

form the theme of a supplementary chapter, or the two methods may be 
combined. 

Thruout the course in physical geography every opportunity should 
be taken to illustrate the relation of economic products to physiographic 
control on the one hand, and to the distribution and condition of man- 
kind on the other hand. If time allows, a summary of the subject might 
be added as a closing chapter. 

In the next section of this report reference will be made to more 
advanced elective courses of a geographic nature which may have place 
in the high-school curriculum. 

II 

The committee recommends that the course in physical geography be 
generally placed in the first or second year.' If the elements of physical 
geography have been used as a basis for work in geography in the 
elementary schools, then physical geography in the high schools might 
perhaps be a relatively advanced course in the fourth year, using the 
materials afforded by the study of physics, chemistry, and biology in the 
previous years. It is, however, the opinion of the majority of the com- 
mittee that, under any conditions, the study of physical geography should 
come early in the high-school curriculum. Certainly this is the case as 
matters now stand. It would be unwise to allow pupils to reach the age 
of eighteen years, or thereabout, without attaining the broad way of 
looking at the earth that physical geography, of all subjects, gives. 

Additional reasons for introducing the subject at an early stage are 
found in the fact that only a small part of the pupils who enter the high 
school complete the curriculum, and in the further consideration that the 
subject can, without deranging the general order of studies, in some 
cases be taken by those who are preparing for classical courses in college. 
The committee deems it entirely practicable to teach good courses in 
elementary physical geography without previous courses in other sciences. 
The qualified teacher will readily supply any needed chemical or physical 
principles. In some cases rudimentary instruction in physics and chem- 
istry has been given in grammar-school courses. 

Advanced elective subjects of a geographic nature may be offered late 
in the curriculum. Among these is geology. It is agreed that the larger 
share of the time should be given to the dynamical and structural phases 
of the subject. Only the simplest facts about minerals and rocks can be 
given, and such difficult dynamical subjects as metamorphism and vul- 
canism can only be treated in a general way. It will be possible for a 
competent teacher to give effectively the elements of historical geology, 
especially if good museums or localities for fossHs be at hand. Detailed 

I [The majority of those who have expressed a preference as between the first and second years prefer 
the first.] 



156 NA riONAL ED UCA TIONAL ASSOCIA TION 

instruction in historical geology is too difficult for high-school pupils, and 
should not be attempted. 

The course in geology should, if practicable, follow those in physics 
and chemistry, probably in the last year of the curriculum. In dynami- 
cal and structural geology the subjects treated will necessarily be, to some 
extent, the same as those in the earlier work in physiography. But the 
treatment of these topics in the course on geology will be in less degree 
simply descriptive. For instance, in the earlier course, some general 
ideas of the work of running water and the development of topographic 
forms can be given. In the later course the work of running water 
should be explained in relation to the laws of energy, the steam being 
considered as a falling body. In the course of physical geography the 
general action of the atmosphere in the decay of rocks can be presented ; 
but in the later course in geology the nature of the chemical changes 
involved in weathering should be illustrated. In general, dynamical 
geology should be regarded as the chemistry and physics of the globe, 
and the conduct of this course must, therefore, presuppose a knowledge 
of chemistry and physics on the part of the student. If the pupil has 
studied zoology, or botany, or both, during the early years of the curriculum, 
it will be possible to make an outline of historical geology more intelli- 
gible than it could otherwise be. 

The committee approves of the suggestion that an advanced elective 
course in meteorology may be introduced, if the number and qualifica- 
tions of the teachers render it practicable. Such a course would probably 
come in the last year, accompanying or following a course in physics. 
Such a course would sustain to the meteorological chapters in physical 
geography a relation similar to that which the course in geology bears 
to that section of physical geography which concerns geological processes. 

If a course in astronomy is offered in the later high-school years, it 
would follow as a natural expansion of the chapter on the earth as a 
globe. 

If a later course in physical geography should be introduced, it might 
be either as an expansion of the first course, with more advanced treat- 
ment, or a course on the physical features of some land area, preferably 
the United States. 

Altho it has seemed worth while to give brief indication of the nature 
of the four advanced courses above outlined, it is not desired to imply 
that all high schools should at present offer all, or, indeed, any of them. 
The chief interest of the committee is in the establishment of a well- 
considered elementary course. 

Ill 

It may be reasonably expected that, in the teaching of geography in the 
elementary schools, a good beginning will have been made in acquainting 
the pupil with the conceptions of physical geography. Geographical 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 157 

teaching has greatly improved in the last two decades, and much is to be 
expected in the near future from the current agitation in this field.. 
Frye's Complete Geography^ and the Natural Advanced Geography by 
Redway and Hinman, illustrate the kind of knowledge which may be 
expected to be acquired in the grammar schools. Teaching that deals 
with mere matters of location may with advantage be replaced by the 
introduction of the causal notion. 

IV 

The committee desires to emphasize at the outset that no one curri-< 
culum can be the best for all high schools. No outline of work can be made 
to fit all conditions. It is of doubtful utility to give to teachers at large any- 
thing more than a very general outline, which may offer suggestion and 
prove a help and incentive to better things. Not less than four periods per 
week for one year should be assigned to the proposed elementary course 
in physical geography. Five periods would be better. Periods of less 
than forty-five minutes each would be inadequate ; and, in any case, two 
periods per week should be scheduled together, to be used, if desired, for 
field or laboratory exercises. 

Of the leading subjects — the earth as a globe, the ocean, the air, and 
the land — the first should occupy the least time, and the others should 
have an increasingly larger allowance, in the order given. Adequate 
treatment of the features of the land will require as much time as the 
other three subjects combined, and it may be more.' If the distribution 
of organisms and economic geography are treated as separate subtopics, 
the time allotted to them must necessarily be short. As regards the whole 
question of proportion, it must again be said that much depends on the 
teacher and the environment. A teacher in a school situated near the 
ocean might give much attention to the features of the shore line, while 
one in the interior might give a larger share of attention to plains or 
mountains. 

It is not deemed necessary to present in this report detailed outlines 
of teaching material. Recourse should be had to text-books, school 
journals, and especially to the report of the conference on geography to 
the Committee of Ten. 

Nor it is thought best to give estimates of time for the advanced 
elective courses which have been suggested, believing that time allotment 
must vary with the views of teachers and the conditions of schools. If 
the association desires the committee to go farther into the question of 
outlines, it will be glad to receive instructions on that point. , 

V 

Recalling the fact that the Committee of Ten places physical geography 
as a requirement in the first year of all high-school courses, your 

I [One member of the subcommittee regards the last clause of this sentence as an overstatement.] 



158 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

committee desires to express its agreement with this indication of the 
importance of the subject, in the hope that it may be made accessible to 
all. The committee would, however, hesitate to propose the prescription 
of the study for all, but does strongly urge that physical geography be 
required in all English high-school courses. It also believes that it 
should be elective in classical courses, either on the same footing with 
all the other sciences, or in a position secondary to physics, as indicated 
below.' 

The attention of educators has been of late repeatedly called to the 
truth that a four-years' course consisting almost exclusively of classics and 
mathematics, with scant recognition of English literature, practically no 
modern history, and no physical or natural science, is a course so 
unsymmetrical as to be a monstrosity. The relation of the different 
educational institutions to each other ought to be such that a course 
preparatory to college will also be a course well adapted to fit the student 
for the later work of life, and for social and civil duties, in case he should 
fail to take a college course. It cannot be claimed that the present 
classical course in high schools, constructed with reference to the classical 
course in colleges, makes any approximation to this result. The student 
who has completed a high-school course in preparation for the classical 
course in college has gained, not a tolerably complete and symmetrical 
education as far as it goes, but a wretched torso of an education. Nor is 
the exclusion of science injurious only to those whose studies are inter- 
rupted at the end of the high-school course. For those who enter college, 
the ignoring of the study of nature in preceding years tends to unfit them 
for success in such studies. Their powers of observation and imagination 
of physical phenomena are well-nigh atrophied by disuse, and they have 
lost their native curiosity about the world in which they live. It would 
tend to correct this evil if a certain amount of science were required for 
admission to the classical course. Physical geography would be one of 
the most suitable subjects to be thus required ; but, in the present unset- 
tled and transitional condition of our educational system, it would prob- 
ably be better for the colleges to allow an option among several scientific 
subjects. 

Taking the point of view of the college, the sentiment of the com- 
mittee is that physical geography should not be required for entrance to 
any of its courses, but that the college should accept it as a part of the 
preparation for any course, when pursued for not less than one year, pro- 
vided the teaching has attained a proper standard .of excellence. In its 
relation to physics, chemistry, zoology, botany, and physiology, several 
members of the committee believe that geography should stand on a per- 
fectly equal footing, as an alternative requirement, but some would assign 

I [Two members of the subcommittee believed that, if one science is to be preferred to another, as a 
study in the classical courses in high schools and a condition for admission to college, physical geography, 
rather than physics, shcjuld be preferred.] 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS i 59 

to physics distinctly the first place. Those who take this view, however, 
would insist that geography be accepted as an alternative for any other 
scientific subject. The college should not fail to set serious tests in 
geography, where given at all. 

V 

The number of text-books which represent the best current standards 
of high-school geography is not large. Several now before the public 
are fairly well adapted for class use. Their titles will be found in the 
annotated list to which reference is made later in this report. In the 
use of these books, as well as in the preparation of new ones, it is hoped 
that the definition of the subject, as already given, will be carefully 
regarded. The earth in relation to man should receive sustained empha- 
sis, and irrelevant scientific matter should be reduced to a minimum. A 
number of good text-books are available in the subjects suggested for 
advanced elective courses. 

VII ' 

Field and laboratory work should receive emphasis in every high- 
school course in geography. So far as practicable, the lectures, discus- 
sions, and recitations should be related to such work. Notebooks 
should be carefully kept, but their importance should not be emphasized 
in an artificial way. It is possible for a pupil to make a handsome note- 
book while entering little into the spirit of the subject. 

Field work during the open season should take the place of at least 
half of the laboratory work, if conditions allow It must not be forgotten 
that the field is, from one point of view, an out-of-door laboratory. The 
teacher must plan the work according to circumstances, but it should 
certainly include practice in the making of sketch maps, study of the 
development of the land forms, and observation of the distribution of 
plants on a small and varied area. In most cities except the largest,^ field 
study can be accomplished without serious difficulty by short excursions 
into the country. Such work is strongly recommended. The interest 
attaching to such trips will frequently enable the teacher to place them 
in afternoons and holidays. Field work has been undertaken with favor- 
able results in Buffalo, Chicago, and elsewhere. The report of the 
Chicago committee for preparing a syllabus in physical geography includes 
a valuable list of such possible trips for the use of the teachers of the city. 
Eleven excursions are scheduled, giving route and cost of round trip, and 
naming the phenomenat to be seen and studied. The latter include stone 
quarries, streams, bowlders, and glacial topography, sand dunes, lake 
shores, and a large museum. Preparation of similar guides for other 
cities would greatly advance this kind of geographic study. Chicago is 

I [One member of the subcommittee protests that on this point there is no need of recognizing any 
exceptions.] 



l6o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

not an exception. An equally important group of facts is assembled in 
the vicinity of nearly all cities. 

Laboratory work in geography is comparatively new to the schools at 
large, and hence suitable manuals or outlines are few; but sufficient bodies 
of suggestion are at hand for good beginnings. One member of the com- 
mittee has contributed the following, which is here included, not as a 
specific guide, but by way of informal suggestion : ' (Figures in paren- 
theses indicate the number of hours for each exercise.) 

Cause of day and night, and extent of sunlight over surface, (i) 
Determination of latitude, north and south line, and high noon, (i) 
Determination of difference of longitude by sending watch, (i) 
Finding variation of local and standard time. (l) 
Making maps on different projections. (4) 
Study of ocean-current maps, (i) 
Study of tide charts, (i) 

Study of map of the world, showing heights of land and depths of sea. (2) 
Difference in temperature between the top and bottom of a hill, (i) 
Finding height of hill or building by barometer, (i) , . 

Determination of dew-point, (i) 

Making isotherm and isobar maps from furnished data. {4) 
Study and reproduction of weather map. (i) 
Predictions from weather maps (written with reasons). (2) 
Observations of rain-fall, temperature, velocity of the winds, etc. 
Determination of the amount of snow-fall and the amount of water produced by an 
inch of snow, (i) 

Observations of ground temperatures, depth of frost, etc. 

Making contour and hachure maps from small models. (2) 

Drawing cross-sections from contour maps. (4) 

Written descriptions of models. (4) 

Picture-reading (written description). (4) 

Map-reading (written description). (4) 

Reproduction of contour map in hachures. (l) 

Making map of small area in neighborhood. (l) 

Planning of journey, with study of country to be seen. (4) 

Determination of the amount of sediment carried by a stream, (i) 

Study of rocks and minerals. (10) 

Study of erosion by sprinkling-pot. (2) 

In fall, four excursions, one a week. (8) 

Four excursions in spring. (8) 

For another laboratory outline which has been tested by actual experi- 
ence, see " Laboratory Work in Elementary Physical Geography," by 
E.. H. Cornish, Journal of School Geography, June and September, 1897. 

VIII 

There cannot be a uniform or standard equipment of apparatus for 
geographical teaching. It is sought here only to give such suggestions 

I [One member of the subcommittee considers some of these exercises too difficult, or otherwise unsuit- 
able. It will be understood that the list is given, not as a program to be followed, but as a suggestion to be 
considered.] 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS i6l 



as may enable teachers and schools to acquire, without serious mistake or 
delay, materials for effective work. Maps and photographs will naturally 
predominate, and slides and projecting apparatus should be added, if 
possible, with the more common meteorological instruments. Care should 
be taken to secure illustrations well related to the systematic progress of 
the work. For example, under land forms, the illustrations introduced 
should be chiefly directed to explaining their causes and consequences 
rather than to the production of striking pictorial effects. A set of about 
one hundred classified lantern slides selected by W. M. Davis, chiefly from 
the Gardner collection of geological and geographical photographs of 
Harvard University, can be purchased from E. E. Howell, Washington 
D. C. Some of the more important materials, such as the topographic 
maps of the United States Geological Survey, cost but little ; and much 
material may be had free of cost, from official surveys, or as gifts from 
individuals interested in the school. Some account of these and other 
official maps may be found in " Governmental Maps for Use in Schools," 
published by Henry Holt & Co., New York.' Models serve a useful pur- 
pose, if their vertical scale is not too much exaggerated. Among those 
that may be mentioned are a number made by E. E. Howell, Washington, 
D. C, and the '' Harvard Geographical Models," published by Ginn & 
Co., of Boston. 

Suggestions concerning the use of these topographical maps in schools 
have recently been published by the departments of public instruction of 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. Similar pub- 
lications would be useful in other states. An important publication of the 
United States Geological Survey has lately been begun in the " Topographic 
Atlas of the United States," of wjiich the first folio, entitled Physiographic 
Types, by Henry Gannett (price, 25 cents), will be found of much practical 
service. Other folios of this series are promised for the future. 

It is believed that school boards will in the end furnish appropriations 
for geography as freely as for physics or chemistry, if the needs of geo- 
graphy are duly appreciated by superintendents, principals, and science 
teachers. Abundant allowance of time should be given to secondary 
teachers of geography, to perfect their equipment, and to work out the 
new problems with which they have to deal. 

By way of further suggestion, the teacher is referred to an article on 
the "Equipment of a Geographical Laboratory," by W. M. Davis, in the 
Journal of School Geography for May, 1898. The following list also 
indicates an equipment found practically useful by one member of the 
committee: good globe, small globes (25 cents), one for each two pupils, 

I Since the publication of this book, the free distribution of the pilot charts of the North Atlantic, issued 
by the United States Hydrographic Office, and of the topographical maps published by the United States 
Geological Survey, has been suspended. The charts and maps are now sold at a very low price by the 
respective bureaus of publication. The method of purchasing the maps issued by the Geological Survey is 
explained in the Journal of School Geography for September, 1897. 



1 62 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

plumb-bobs, vertical standards for the determination of latitude, Kiepert's 
"Physikalische Wanderkarten" (Europe, Asia, North America, South 
America), "Weltkarte zur Ubersicht der Meerestiefen und Hohenschich- 
ten," small compasses, bright, thin metal dishes for the determination of 
dew-point, blank weather maps, co-ordinate paper, thermometer, barometer, 
rain gauge, tide charts, ocean-current maps (copies from Challenger expe- 
dition), small wooden balls, small outline maps, sprinkling-pots and boxes, 
a few typical charts, geological maps. United States contour maps (suffi- 
cient duplicates of some sheets to give one to each pupil). Harvard geo- 
graphical models, fragments of models for contour-drawing, maps of 
different projections, a few English hachure maps, photographs and 
pictures, stereopticon and views, several atlases, collection of rock and 
mineral specimens, enough for each pupil, if possible. 

For illustration of the structures and processes concerned in the 
development of land forms, there should be specimens of the common 
rock-forming minerals, and of such rocks and structures ais are important 
in determining topographic forms, or have economic value. Thus there 
should be sandstones, conglomerates, shales, and limestones, lavas, speci- 
mens showing faults on a small scale, slickensides, crumpled lamination, 
ripple- marks, raindrop impressions ^nd sun-cracks, glacial bowlders and 
glaciated surfaces, stalactites and stalagmites. If an advanced course in 
geology is given, the amount of such material as has been indicated above 
should be materially increased, and some fossils should be added. In all 
cases care should be taken to avoid such jumbles of miscellaneous min- 
erals and fossils as often make up collections so-called.^ 

IX 

An annotated list of text- and reference-books has been prepared by 
Miss Mary I. Piatt, recently of Radcliffe College, now teacher of geo- 
graphy. High School, Holyoke, Mass. The list, including fifty titles, has 
been examined and criticised by W. M. Davis and R. E. Dodge, and is 
published in the Journal of School Geography for May, 1898. This is by 
no means intended to be exhaustive of useful books, but outlines a useful 
beginning of a school library which might to advantage be greatly 
increased. It is further suggested that th.Q Journal of School Geography is 
the most important help with which teachers of the subject can provide 

themselves. 

X 

PREPARATION OF THE TEACHER 

It is not to be expected that notable success in this or any other 
subject will be attained, if attention is so far turned to the outline of the 
course or the equipment of the schoolroom that the preparation of the 

I [Mr. Cornish has furnished a list of apparatus for physical geography recently purchased for the high 
schools of New York city. As the list may be useful to teachers by way of suggestion, it is presented as an 
appendix to this report.] 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 163 

teacher is forgotten. The committee, therefore, wishes to emphasize 
three points that are of prime importance in this connection. The train- 
ing of the teacher should have reached a distinctly higher grade in physi- 
cal geography than that of the course to be given. It should include 
laboratory courses in physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, and geology, 
and it should have developed ability to take advantage of the local phe- 
nomena in the neighborhood of the school in the conduct of field work. 
These considerations should weigh in the selection of new teachers. 
Teachers already employed and of good experience in their work should 
be urged to supplement their preparation, if deficient in any of the lines 
above indicated, by attending serious courses in teachers' classes and 
summer schools, as far as practicable with due regard to rest and health. 

A primary object of this report has been to attempt a rational defini- 
tion of physical geography, and to offer to teachers and school authorities 
a line of suggestion in organizing geographic instruction especially to 
secure a sound elementary course in the early years of the high school. 
Minute and specific directions are undesirable, because a great variety 
of conditions must be met, and the new must be built upon the old. 
A further object here sought is to set forth practicable views of the 
co-ordination of geography with the other sciences in the high-school 
curriculum, and of geography as a factor in satisfying college-admission 
requirements. The results, of course, are tentative. It is not thought 
that this committee, and the other committees with which it is associated, 
can formulate a rigid or final plan for all schools, but an approximation 
toward unity can be made, with advance upon the chaotic conditions of 
secondary science instruction in the past. 

The committee would be glad to be continued for another year, in 
order that, profiting by the discussions of its conference already held, 
and by such criticisms as the publication of the present report may evoke, 
it may embody the results of further consideration in a subsequent report. 

Albert Perry Brigham. 
Collier Cobb. 
W. M. Davis. 
William North Rice. 
W. H. Snyder. 



Which is respectfully submitted. 



William North Rice, 

Acting Chairman. 



1 64 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



APPENDIX 

apparatus for physical geography recently purchased for the high 
schools of new york city 
Maps. 

I set (6) Habernicht & Sydow physical wall-maps. Hemispheres, Asia, Europe, North 

America, South America, Africa. 
I bird's-eye view, United States. 
I blackboard outline. United States. 
I blackboard outline, middle and eastern United States. 
I physical map, Switzerland. 
I Guslin's definition map. 

Globes and Models. 
I 1 2-inch Joslin globe. 
I 1 2-inch slated globe. 

I model United States, E, E. Howell, Washington, D. C. 
I model New Jersey, E. E. Howell, Washington, D. C. 
3 Harvard geographical models. 

Government Maps. 

I geologic atlas, New Jersey, New Jersey Geological Survey. 
9 selected geologic folios. United States Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. 
335 selected sheets, topographic atlas. United States, including complete sets of Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania and New York, as far as 
published, as well as maps of other states. 
3 special geologic sheets, United States Geological Survey. 
I set Mississippi river (preliminary) charts, Mississippi River Commission. 
I set flood plain, Mississippi river, Mississippi River Commission. 
22 lake-survey charts (selected). United States Great Lakes Survey Commission, Detroit, 

Mich. 
67 selected coast-survey charts. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
46 pilot charts of Atlantic and Pacific oceans. United States Hydrographic Office. 
Blank weather maps, P'orm D, United States Weather Bureau. 

Pictures and Lantern Slides. 
126 selected lantern slides. 

54 selected mounted photographs of natural scenery, 12X10. 

50 selected mounted photographs of natural scenery, 6X7. 

12 selected mounted photographs of natural scenery, 12X14. 
6 selected mounted photographs of natural scenery, 7X8. 

1 set (5) photochromes, 18X20. 

2 Alpine photographs (large). 

I set (37) Holzel's geographical pictures. 

Minerals and Rocks. 

1 set prepared slides of mineral and rock sections. 

6 boxes selected mineral specimens, 40 specimens each of 40 different minerals. 

2 boxes selected rock specimens, 40 specimens each of 20 different rocks. 

Meteorological Apparatus. 



barograph, 
thermograph. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 165 

I exposed thermometer. 

I solar radiation thermometer. 

I aneroid barometer. 

I standard (mercurial) barometer. 

I set maximum and minimum thermometers. 

I soil thermometer. 

I wind-vane and anemometer. 



SPECIAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 
CHEMISTRY 



PRESENTED TO THE COMMITTEE ON COLLEGE-ENTRANCE 
REQUIREMENTS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCA- 
TIONAL ASSOCIATION 



I. VALUE AND PLACE OF CHEMISTRY 

The study of chemistry is a valuable constituent of the high-school 
course on account (i) of the training in observation in general and cor- 
rect induction from observation which it affords, and (2) of the first-hand 
information which it gives about well-known materials, the principles 
of their manufacture, and their properties, as the result of personal 
observation. 

The college invites its study in preparatory schools on account of 
these two benefits. To be of subsequent use the method and content of 
the courses in preparatory schools must be definite and uniform. The 
selected matter must be thoroly taught, so as to form a recognizable 
constituent of the preparation of those who present it. When these con- 
ditions are fulfilled, the college must give proper recognition to the work. 
All colleges must give admission credit for the subject. In addition to 
this each college must provide definite means for advancing the entrant 
in chemistry to an extent corresponding to his previous knowledge of the 
subject. The precise method of doing this will depend upon the nature 
of the courses the college itself offers. In any case no pupil who offers 
chemistry for entrance, and receives definite credit for it, should be 
placed in the same class with beginners who had no such credit. 

Without laboratory work school chemistry is wholly valueless for the 
purposes just mentioned. It should be preceded by physics, since chem- 
istry necessarily assumes a knowledge of the physical properties of matter 
and of the phenomena connected with heat and electricity. If, on account 
of limited teaching force, relatively little time can be given to the sci- 
eence, it is preferable to give a year each to one or two sciences than 
shorter periods to a larger number. It must be remembered that, for the 



1 66 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

efficient teaching of science, preparation of apparatus and experiments 
for demonstrations and laboratory work are necessary, and the science 
teacher cannot, therefore, carry more than half the number of recitations 
assigned to most other teachers. 

OUTLINE OF A ONE-YEAR COURSE 

The work outlined below will demand at least 200 hours' work ; about 
half the time, in two-hour periods, should be spent in the laboratory. 

II. METHOD OF TEACHING 

Laboratory work. — The experiments must be performed by each pupil 
individually. 

Each pupil must record his observations and the interpretation of 
them in a notebook. His work should be continuously supervised and 
his records frequently examined by the teacher. 

Most pupils will tend to fall into merely mechanical performance of 
assigned work. To combat this is the most difficult task of the teacher of 
chemistry. Each experiment is a question put to nature, and forethought 
and care are necessary in putting the question, and study and reflection in 
interpreting the answer. Strenuous effort is required to make the pupil 
realize this. The questions incorporated in the laboratory outline, to 
which answers are expected as part of the notes ; individual questioning 
in the laboratory ; above all, frequent, thoro quizzing of the whole class, 
are the best means of forcing the significance of this practical work into 
the foreground. 

Beginning at an early stage in the course, simple quantitative experi- 
ments should be given, in order to illustrate the laws of definite and 
multiple proportion, the determination of combining and equivalent 
weights, the specific gravity of gases, etc. This will enable the pupil to 
appreciate the fact that, altho the quantities used in the majority of 
laboratory exercises may not be measured, yet the proportions and the 
compositions by weight of substances involved in all chemical changes are 
definite and measurable. Without such measurements atomic weights will 
seem purely mythical. Not less than six such exercises should be given. 
One or two of these experiments must be introduced early, in order that 
formulae and equations, when the time for their employment comes, may 
be given as abbreviated expressions of the results of quantitative meas- 
urements. 

Qualitative analysis is a branch of applied chemistry, and cannot be 
learned otherwise than mechanically without a long preparation in general 
chemistry. There should be no pretense of teaching it in a secondary 
school as part (much less as the whole) of the first year's work. It gives a 
distorted view of the classifications of the elements and of the relative 
importance of their properties, and bears the same relation to the science 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 167 

of chemistry that the Linnsean system of classification in botany bears to 
the natural. 

Yet exercises on the recognition of chemical substances will tend to 
fix their properties in the mind and give a useful review of many of the 
facts and principles of the science, provided that a proper method of 
conducting them be pursued. Analytical tables encourage mechanical 
work in a remarkable degree, and cannot be permitted. An outline sug- 
gesting suitable dry- and wet-way experiments, which will throw the 
burden of -thought and rigid proof on the pupil, will be a sufficient 
guide. This part of the work may fitly occupy five or six weeks of the 
course. 

Class-room. — Many parts of the subject can best be introduced by means 
of carefully reasoned and fully illustrated demonstrations by the teacher. 
Sometimes also this method of teaching has to be used where the apparatus 
is complicated and cannot be supplied to each pupil, or where, in striving 
to make the experiment successful, the pupil will be in danger of wasting 
time. Thus on pedagogical or practical grounds some of the Hofmann 
experiments for illustrating the application of Avogadro's hypothesis 
(explosion of hydrogen and oxygen, electrolysis of hydrochloric acid, 
etc. ) are best performed by the teacher. (No teacher should fail to read 
Hofmann's admirable Lectures on Modern Chemistry, 1865.) The line of 
thought to be developed in connection with the experiments performed 
by the teacher and by the pupil is well given (pp. 1-9) in the Harvard 
Requirements in Chemistry by Professor Richards. 

The theories and principles must be presented inductively. They 
should not be stated as dogmas, or as if they were part of the facts. They 
should be held in reserve until some accumulated facts demand explana- 
tion and correlation. Facts incapable of correlation should be avoided 
as far as possible. On the other hand, explanations by the handy affinity 
idea are worse than useless, as they are generally pure nonsense. When 
symbols and formulae are first introduced, special care must be taken to 
show how they are derived from quantitative measurements. The pupil's 
own observations and other examples must be used to show how the formulae, 
and finally the equations, are reached as expressions of quantitative 
relations. The whole process of determining, the proportions by weight 
and constructing the formulae and equations must be done or described 
in connection with every chemical change, until the pupil is thoroly 
familiar with the operation and the exact significance of the equation is 
perfectly clear (cf. Harvard pamphlet already mentioned (p. 24) on this 
point). Formulae must on no account be used before this can be done, 
as otherwise they will inevitably appear to be the source of information 
instead of the receptacle for it. All ''exercises in writing equations" 
and rules for constructing them, as if they were mathematical expressions, 
must be rigidly excluded as fantastic and misleading. The misuse to 



1 68 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

which equations have been put has led to their omission or prolonged 
postponement by some teachers. Their introduction at an early stage 
can do no possible harm, provided the laboratory work contains exercises 
specifically intended to illustrate the way in which the facts recorded in 
the equations are ascertained and the manner in which the equations are 
constructed from these facts. The atomic theory should not be intro- 
duced until after this experimental foundation of the equation is thoroly 
familiar. The equation has no necessary connection with this theory. 
The teacher will derive valuable hints in regard to method from Perkin 
and Lean's Introduction to Chemistry. 

Library. — Interest in the study should be fostered by providing a 
small library. The use of this will counteract the idea which the pupil 
may possibly receive that the text-book employed in the class is a "com- 
plete" treatise. It should contain some more advanced works, as well 
as some of a more popular nature. 

III. SUBJECT-MATTER 

The following outline includes only the indispensable things which 
must be studied in the class-room and laboratory. The material is, for 
the most part, common to all elementary text-books and laboratory 
manuals. Each book makes its own selection of facts beyond this which 
may be necessary for the illustration of* the principles of the science. 
The order of presentation will naturally be determined by each teacher 
for himself. 

Outline. — The chief physical and chemical characteristics, the prepara- 
tion and the recognition of the following elements and their chief com- 
pounds : oxygen^ hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, chlorine, bromine, iodine, 
fluorine, sulphur, phosphorus, silicon, potassium, sodium, calcium, mag- 
nesium, zinc, copper, mercury, silver, aluminium, lead, tin, iron, manganese, 
chromium. 

More detailed study should be confined to the italicized elements (as 
such) and to a restricted list of compounds, such as: water, hydrochloric 
acid, carbon-monoxide, carbon-dioxide, nitric acid, ammonia, sulphur- 
dioxide, sulphuric acid, hydrogen-sulphide, sodium-hydroxide. 

Attention should be given to the atmosphere (constitution and rela- 
tion to animal and vegetable life), flames, acids, bases, salts, oxidation 
and reduction, crystallization, manufacturing processes, familiar substances 
(illuminating gas, explosives, baking powder, mortar, glass, metallurgy, 
steel, common alloys, porcelain, soap). 

Combining proportions by weight and volume ; calculations founded 
on these and Boyle's and Charles' laws ; symbols and nomenclature (with 
careful avoidance of special stress, since these are nonessential) ; atomic 
theory, atomic weights and valency in a very elementary way ; nascent 
state ; natural grouping of the elements ; solution (solvents and solubility 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQULREMENTS 169 

of gases, liquids, and solids, saturation) ; ionization ; mass action and 
equilibrium; strength (=: activity) of acids and bases.; conservation and 
dissipation of energy ; chemical energy (very elementary) ; electrolysis. 
Chemical terms should be defined and explained, and the pupil should be 
able to illustrate and apply the ideas they embody. The theoretical topics 
are not intended to form separate subjects of study, but to be taught 
only so far as is necessary for the correlation and explanation of the 
experimental facts. 

The facts should be given as examples from various classes, and not 
as isolated things. Thus to speak of a " standard method of preparing 
hydrogen," whereby the action of zinc on hydrochloric acid is meant, 
shows narrow and infertile teaching. It should be shown that all acids 
are acted upon by a certain class of metals to produce hydrogen. 
Examples of both classes of metals should be given and the general 
principles derived. The reason for using zinc and hydrochloric acid in 
the laboratory can then be stated. 

IV. EQUIPMENT 

Chemistry cannot be taught satisfactorily without a proper laboratory 
and a sufficient supply of apparatus. The former should contain desks, 
with gas and water connections, bottle racks, and well-ventilated hoods. 
Each pupil should have his own set of apparatus. 

In view of the prevailing idea that quantitative experiments require 
expensive apparatus, it may be mentioned that a balance with case (Becker 
No. 31) — costing, when imported duty-free, $15 — and weights (^1.25) 
will amply suffice, and some teachers secure good results by giving each 
pupil ordinary hand-scales, costing less than $1.50. There should be one 
balance to every six pupils working at one time. In addition to this the 
following will be required : 

Barometer ; thermometers ; burettes, two for four pupils at least ; 
porcelain crucibles for each student ; bottle for aspirator (one liter) for 
each student. 

Most of the apparatus for demonstrations can be made by the teacher 
by use of the blowpipe, some glass tubing of various sizes, and a few 
pieces of thin platinum wire. 

It may not be out of place to add that a teacher competent to instruct 
a class after the fashion indicated here must have had considerable train- 
ing in the several branches of the sciences. His minimum equipment 
will be : physics (one year), general chemistry (one year), qualitative 
analysis (two terms; one term = twelve weeks), quantitative analysis (one 
term), theoretical chemistry (one term), organic chemistry (one term), 
some acquaintance with the history of the science, and familiarity 
with all the chief books suitable as works of reference in connection 



I70 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

with such a course, and all the text-books for secondary-school 
chemistry. 

Alexander Smith, University of Chicago, Chairman. 

W. B. Graves, Phillips Academy, Andover. 

E. F. Smith, University of Pennsylvania. 

Frank Rollins, Boys' High School, New York. 

W. T. Van Buskirk, High School, Peoria, 111. 

W. L. Dudley, Vanderbilt University. 

C. F. Mabery, Case School of Applied Science. 

G. W, Benton, High School, Indianapolis, Ind. 

EXCEPTIONS BY PROFESSOR P. C. FREER 

In discussing the above report, I would beg to make the following 
additions and exceptions : 

I advise the omission of the determination of the specific gravities of 
gases. My reasons are as follows : 

With the pupil's knowledge and the apparatus at his disposal, the 
result must be more or less inaccurate. Inaccuracy in quantitative experi- 
ments robs them of their significance. The laws of definite and multiple 
proportions are exact, and, if they are to be illustrated by quantitative 
experiments, exact results are necessary. 

Hofmann's Einleitung in die moderne Chemie is a very admirable work, 
but, in my .opinion, the gas laws are dealt with at unnecessary length, 
and their importance is exaggerated. For the purpose of the teacher, 
such works as Lothar Meyer's Elements of Theoretical Chemistry, or 
Ostwald's Outlines of General Chemistry, are better ; they also give the 
gas laws, and many other important things in addition. 

I cannot agree with the introduction of many commercial processes 
in an elementary course. The course in chemistry is for the purpose of 
education^ and mere information is not education. The time is all too 
short as it is, and the attention should not be distracted from funda- 
mental principles. Many commercial processes are of such a complex 
nature that a considerable chemical knowledge, is necessary for their 
understanding, so that, as a consequence, the information must be con- 
veyed to the beginner empirically. In chemical teaching, at present, 
this method is used to excess, so that I deprecate calling especial atten- 
tion to the matter. 

In my opinion, accurate quantitative results can only be obtained by 
means of a sensitive balance, the cost of which is from ^40 to $50. I fail 
to see how hand-scales can give more than approximate results. 

The best and most accurate quantitative experiments for beginners 
are, in my opinion, volumetric in character. For this purpose, experi- 
ments in titration, involving the neutralization of hydrochloric and sul- 
phuric acids by caustic soda and caustic potash, are well adapted. The 



COLLEGE- ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS • 171 

solution of known titer can be prepared by the teacher in bulk and kept in 
stock. The pupil should calculate equivalent weights of bases and acids. 
I would rather see the time spent in training the teacher in qualitative 
analysis in part devoted to organic chemistry and to physical chemistry. 
With a good training in general organic and physical chemistry, the 
high-school teacher is better equipped for his work than he would be 
were he to devote his time more extensively to analysis, to the detriment 
of other branches. By this I would have it understood, however, that 
the study of such a book as Ostwald's Foundations of Analytical Chemistry 
would meet my objections. 

P. C. Freer, University of Michigan. 

Professor Freer's opinions on Hofmann's work and on commercial 
processes are not inconsistent with anything in the report. In fact, I 
believe they express the views of the committee on these subjects. Quali- 
tative analysis cannot be taught scientifically otherwise than on a basis 
similar to that outlined in Ostwald's Scientific Foundations. — Alexander 
Smith. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON BOTANY 

OF THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL 

ASSOCIATION 



It does not seem necessary to discuss the proposition that contact with 
the phenomena of lifp should form a part of the training of the second- 
ary schools. If this be granted, either plants or animals, or both, are to 
be studied. In case both are studied, it is the judgment of your com- 
mittee that they should be studied consecutively, and not intermixed. 
The two lines are entirely divergent, and to study plants and animals 
alternately leads to confusion, and often to entire misapprehension. All 
of the fundamental principles of biology can be obtained from either 
line. 

A. Probably the most common method of teaching botany in the 
secondary schools is to conduct recitations, which are little more than 
definitions of the parts of flowering plants, and to demand as practical 
exercises the preparation of a small herbarium, and the analysis of a cer- 
tain number of flowers in accordance with some " key." In the judgment 
of your committee this method is entirely inadequate. It deals with but 
a small portion of the plant kingdom, and presents the least important 
details of that portion. It brings no conception of plants as living 
things, and develops no biological principles. 

B. A newer method, and one prevailing in the larger and better- 
equipped secondary schools, is organized upon a far more rational basis. 



172 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

It seeks to present the essential structures of the whole plant kingdom 
by the examination of a series of types, and the facts observed are 
co-ordinated by a text-book or by lectures. The method involves the 
almost continuous use of the compound microscope. In the judgment 
of your committee the compound microscope is both useful and necessary 
in the demonstration of many important structures that should be brought 
to the attention of secondary-school students, but its excessive use in the 
first contact with plants is to be deplored. The compound microscope 
is a difficult piece of apparatus for a young student to use intelligently, 
a proper interpretation of that which is seen demanding considerable 
training, involving more total time and longer periods than are given in 
secondary schools. Another danger of such a course is that the contact 
with plants is one of structure rather than of function, and details of 
minute structure are not related to previous or subsequent experience, 
except in the case of very few secondary-school pupils ; besides, it involves 
a needlessly extensive and difficult terminology at the first contact. 

Such a course as that referred to above may be conducted to great 
advantage in schools with small classes, good equipment, liberal labora- 
tory periods, and experienced teachers, but this combination of condi- 
tions is not present in the vast majority of secondary schools. 

C. A third method is suggested in this report, and is based upon the 
following principles : the standpoint of observation should be that of 
plants as living things and at work, details of structure being entirely 
subordinated ; observation should be directed to the most obvious facts, 
those which form a fitting background for subsequent study, and which 
easily enter into the subsequent experience of those who do not study 
further, making the work result in a permanent possession ; professional 
terminology and difficult and expensive apparatus should be avoided as 
much as possible, the proper place for these being in college and univer- 
sity courses. 

D. With these principles in view, it would seem that the first contact 
should be with plants in their general relations, forming the natural 
covering of the earth's surface, and holding definite relations to their 
environment. In addition to the observation of essential life-relations, 
the most important life-processes should be demonstrated. To develop 
some elementary knowledge of the life-relations and life-processes of 
plants will demand at least a half year of work, and is the phase of botany 
that will count for the most, if but a half year is given to the subject. 
Naturally such a contact with plants will involve some knowledge of the 
great groups and their essential structures. 

E. In case a second half year is given to botany, it should be devoted 
to a course in general morphology. Some knowledge of the structure of 
plants will have been developed during the work of the first half year, 
but during the second half year the standpoint of structure is made more 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 173 

prominent, and the evolution of the plant kingdom is traced. For this 
part of the work compound microscopes and the ordinary laboratory 
equipment will be necessary. On account of previous training, the type 
plants selected for study will be related to their proper surroundings, 
their most obvious relations and processes will be known, and hence their 
structure will have some significance. 

In no case should structure be considered apart from function, so that 
the course should involve a continuance of experiments in plant 
physiology. 

F. An outline of suggested courses is herewith appended, the first 
course being for a half year of work, the second course being added to 
the first for a whole year of work. 

FIRST COURSE 

1. The Great Plant Groups. — Before undertaking the study of plants in their rela- 
tions, it will be necessary to give some general training in the recognition of great 
groups. In a few exercises the pupil may be taught to recognize, in a general way, 
algae, fungi, liverworts, mosses, ferns, equisetums, club-mosses, gymnosperms, mono- 
cotyledons, and dicotyledons. It should be understood that this preliminary training 
is not to develop much knowledge of the structures of these groups, but merely to 
enable the student to recognize them in laboratory and field work. 

2. Life-Relations and -Processes. 

(1) The foliage leaf as a light-related organ, 

a) This fact explaining its position, its form, the relation of leaves to each other. 
d) The structure : demonstrating epidermis, stomata, mesophyll, chloroplasts, 
veins. 

c) Functions : demonstrating photosynthesis, transpiration, respiration. 

d) Protection of mesophyll : palisade cells, cuticle, hairs, movements, etc. 

e) These relations and functions in green plants without foliage leaves. 

(2) The stem as the leaf-bearing organ. 

a) Stems bearing foliage leaves, the problem of foliage display being studied in 
connection with subterranean, prostrate, submerged, climbing, and erect stems. 

h) Demonstrations of movements of water and elaborated material, growth, helio- 
tropism, etc. 

c) Compare stem structure of different types. 

d) Stems bearing scale leaves, being connected with protection, or storage, or 
f vegetative propagation, prominent examples being the bud, the tuber, and the 

rootstock types. 
^) Stems bearing floral leaves, the flowers being studied as to pollination and seed 
dissemination, but not as to their extensive terminology. 

(3) The root as an absorbing and hold-fast organ. 

a) Relations to soil, water, air, mechanical support, etc. 

b) Demonstrations of absorption, geotropism, hydrotropism. 

c) Structure of roots. 

d) Absorption and grappling by plants without roots. 

3. The Plant Societies. — This is a study of natural plant areas, such as forest, meadow, 
swamp, etc., and is very desirable if practicable. It is recognized that in city schools, 
and in those with very large classes, the study of natural areas can form no large part 



174 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

of the formal training, but it may always be encouraged. The conditions of several 
plant societies, however, may be imitated in the schoolroom, and»many of the adapta- 
tions of plants observed. 

(i) Water plants. — An aquarium stocked with characteristic water forms, a collection 
of marine seaweeds, and some swamp plants are things to be obtained by any 
school. The structures of such plants should be contrasted with those of plants 
living under different conditions. 

(2) Drought plants. — Characteristic drought plants can be cultivated, and also the 
effect of drought conditions upon ordinary plants can be noted. The various 
methods of regulating transpiration and of storing water should be observed. 

(3) Ordinary plants. — To contrast the plants growing in genial conditions with those 
growing in water or drought conditions is a fruitful subject of observation. 

SECOND COURSE 

Plant Structures. — Such a course needs no outline. Types representing each 
great plant group should be selected and the essential structures observed, unessential 
details being passed over. Naturally the structures will fall under two physiological 
heads, the nutritive and the reproductive. In the selection of types the following groups 
should be represented : algae, fungi, lichens, liverworts, mosses, ferns, horsetails, club- 
mosses, conifers, monocotyledons, and dicotyledons. 

In connection with this course it would be well to continue some work in plant 
physiology, a number of simple experiments being "set up" to illustrate the more 
important functions of the structure under observation. 

Such a course also incidentally involves the fundamental classification of plants, 
which phase of the subject may be carried into greater detail in connection with the study 
of the monocotyledons and dicotyledons by teaching the use of the ordinary manuals of 
seed plants. 

G. In connection with both of these courses your committee would 
call special attention to the great importance of drawing as a means of 
securing definite observation. 

It is also the judgment of your committee that to obtain the best 
results the work, as herein outlined, should be done during the last two 
years of the secondary-school period. 

BOTANICAL* MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE REPRESENTING : 

1. New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools: 

Professor W. F. Ganong, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. 

Mr, David W. Hoyt, English High School, Providence, R. I. - 

2. Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of Middle States and Maryland: 

Professor B. D. Halsted, Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J. 
Mr. Frank Owen Payne, High School, Glen Cove, N. Y. 

3. North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools: 

Professor Charles R. Barnes, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 
Mr. E. R. Boyer, High School, Chicago, III. (Who has not indicated his assent 
to this report.) 

4. Southern Association of Colleges: 

Professor Albert H. Tuttle, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. 
Mr. Albert Ruth, High School, Knoxville, Tenn. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 175 

5. A. A. A.S.: 

Professor Charles E. Bessey, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. (See 

dissenting opinion.) 
Mr. J. Y, Bergen, Jr., High School, Boston, Mass. 

6. National Educational Association: 

Professor John M. Coulter, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111., chairman. 
Mr. I. N. Mitchell, State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wis. 

DISSENTING COMMENTS OF CHARLES E. BESSEY 

While cordially agreeing with the majority of the committee in the 
general spirit of the foregoing report, and in many of its propositions 
and recommendations, I cannot subscribe to it in its present form. The 
essential points in which I dissent are as follows : 

I cannot agree to say, with the majority of the committee, that the 
compound microscope "is a difficult piece of apparatus for the young 
student to use intelligently," since I have known of its very successful 
use in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of certain public schools in 
Nebraska. For pupils in the eleventh and twelfth grades (third and 
fourth years of the high school, where alone botany should be first taken 
up) the compound microscope is not as difficult to handle as the chemical 
and physical apparatus necessarily handled in a good high-school course 
in chemistry and physics. We are not called upon to make botany a 
simpler science than chemistry and physics in the secondary schools. 

I must dissent emphatically from the proposition that *'the first con- 
tact [of the pupil] should be with plants in their general relations, form- 
ing the natural covering of the earth's surface, and holding definite rela- 
tions to their environment." This refers to the newest department of 
modern botany, viz., ecology, which is just now, for the first time, finding 
its way into the botanical courses of our foremost universities. We who 
have to deal with advanced students, well prepared in general and system- 
atic botany, find it hard enough work to study the general relations of 
plants referred to above, and I hold it to be impossible to take up this 
work successfully in the secondary schools without a much better prepara- 
than than suggested in the report of the committee. 

I must dissent from much of the detail in the suggested course for 
the first half year. Instead of attempting the impossible task of teaching 
the pupil in a few exercises *' to recognize, in a general way, algse, fungi, 
liverworts, mosses, ferns, equisetums, club-mosses, gymnosperms, mono- 
cotyledons, and dicotyledons," it will be far better to devote the half 
year to this work, giving the pupil the opportunity of becoming person- 
ally acquainted with enough kinds under each head given above to enable 
him to recognize them in something more than "a general way." 

As to the ''life-relations and -processes" I dissent from the prominence 
which the report gives them thus early in the course in botany. Many 



176 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

of the suggestions are useful, e. g., those pertaining to the position, form, 
and mutual relations of leaves ; the stems bearing foliage leaves ; prostrate, 
climbing, and erect stems; relations of roots to soil, water, air, etc.; and 
some of the experiments and demonstrations are suggestive; but others, 
again, are impossible of performance in any but the loosest way by sec- 
ondary-school pupils, e. g., the demonstration of photosynthesis, respira- 
tion, and movements of water and elaborated material. 

The inclusion by the committee of the study of "plant societies" in 
the suggested work of the secondary- school pupils is, to say the least, 
untimely. The pupils with no further preparation than that allowed by 
the committee are not able to designate the members of the plant socie- 
ties, and, on account of the newness of this department of botany in 
America, there are practically no teachers in the secondary schools who 
are able to give any instruction in it. 

I recommend that the committee's "second course" be more fully 

elaborated, and suggested to the secondary schools as the outline of work 

to be followed. 

Charles E. Bessey. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ZOOLOGY 



The committee takes it for granted that, in accordance with the gen- 
eral report of the Committee of Ten, published some time ago, the subject 
will be awarded a place in the curriculum, and hence the present report 
covers its position, the character of the course, and extent of the same. 

POSITION IN CURRICULUM 

Studies on living things appeal more strongly to students of fifteen 
than to those of seventeen years of age, whereas the reverse is true of 
precise formal argument. The power of exact reasoning cannot be said 
to develop early, and the less formal methods of biological science are 
also transitional to those of both physics and chemistry. Furthermore, 
the mathematical training necessary for physics particularly is not obtained 
by the pupil, under present programs in secondary schools, early enough 
to allow the introduction of work in physics before the third year of the 
secondary course; hence your subcommittee is all but unanimous" in 
recommending that, since work in zoology does not require the rigid 
training necessary for more formal work in physics and chemistry, it 
should precede work in these branches. It should, however, be preceded, 
in its opinion, by a year in general science and physiography. , 

Whether illustrated by the study of plants or animals, the phenomena 
of life are so similar and so clearly complementary that a rational arrange- 
ment of courses calls for a study of botany and zoology in successive 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 177 

terms or years. Various circumstances may determine in the individual 
case the order to be followed, yet neither should be studied at the expense 
of the other, but both receive a due share of attention. 

CHARACTER OF THE COURSE 

1. Probably the most general method of teaching zoology in sec- 
ondary schools at present is the text-book method. A large amount of 
information about animals is acquired thereby in a limited time, and the 
minimum of attainment and preparation is demanded of the teacher. 
Your Subcommittee on Zoology is unanimously opposed to this method, 
for not only is undue emphasis laid on the larger forms of animal life, 
but also no course has any right to be regarded as a course in science 
unless it include laboratory work. 

2. The systematic method involves the detailed study of a group or 
groups in the most careful manner from a taxonomic standpoint. This 
plan has the advantage of bringing the pupils in contact with the objects 
studied, and trains powers of discrimination and analysis, but it gives 
the student an exaggerated idea of the importance of certain structural 
parts and of limited animal groups, and fails to develop general biologi- 
cal ideas. 

3. The laboratory study of a series of animals is the method now used 
with the greatest success. Two tendencies are observed here : (^) the 
rapid superficial examination of a large number of forms, and {b) the 
more accurate study of a limited series of types. Your subcommittee is 
of the opinion that the thoro, careful study of a few types, emphasizing 
the quality of the work rather than the amount of ground covered, should 
be recommended as yielding the best results, tho " the course should not 
be exhaustive to the extent of becoming exhausting." In content some 
change in the prevalent character of zoological courses seems desirable. 
The systematic and morphologic work of colleges is not most profitable 
to the student ; minute anatomy is clearly out of place, and exclusive 
dissecting is too time-consuming. External morphology, life-histories, 
habits, economic interests, are of far greater interest and value to the 
pupil, and all members of the subcommittee are united in emphasizing 
the necessity of paying greater attention to observations on the living ani- 
mal and its activities. 

A series of types can be selected on which it is possible to work with- 
out the use of a compound microscope, thus adapting the course to 
schools having a minimum equipment. The course may, however, be 
somewhat improved by the addition of a little work on lower forms by the 
aid of that instrument. The types may be selected with reference to the 
material available for use, but always with regard to preserving the balance 
of the course in getting some idea of the wide variation in animal struc- 
ture, and should be so arranged that related forms come in succession. 



178 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

It is essential that the student find individually the answers to ques- 
tions from the objects before him, record independently his observations 
in the form of notes, and especially of drawings portraying the essential 
features with accuracy, and should himself conduct experiments of a 
harmless and simple character on the living animal. The definite infor- 
mation gained in this way and by comparison with other types should be 
broadened by reading and class instruction on allied topics outlined by 
the teacher. Of fundamental importance are field excursions for the 
study as far as .practicable of organisms in their natural environment, to 
collect and compare other forms, to observe and record their habits and 
activities. For the comparison of types not native to a given region a 
school museum is desirable, but it should be a small working collection 
and be put to constant use. The collateral reading of the course should 
be broad enough to include, not only work of immediate bearing on the 
topic in hand, but also the records of great naturalists and explorers, 
which will add to the interest as well as encourage love for nature. 

EXTENT OF THE COURSE 

Not less than one year of continuous work should be given to biologi- 
cal science, and half of the time should be devoted to zoology. Of the 
five hours per week spent in the study, two may be used for class-room 
work and three in the laboratory ; altho, by virtue of lack of outside 
preparation for laboratory work, some think that double time should be 
devoted to it for a given credit. The choice of type forms used in the 
laboratory is subject to individual variation, but should not exceed ten 
for a half year's work. The line of study to be followed for each form is 
indicated by the following analysis: 

1. External anatomy : {a) general form and symmetry, regions, parts ; 
(^) comparison with other individuals of the same species, emphasizing 
points of variation and constancy ; {c) comparison with other types. 

2. Observations on the living animal, simple physiological tests, 
emphasizing care with regard to the inferences drawn from the reactions. 

3. Class topics, including talks by the teacher, selected readings, class 
work, analysis of results. , 

As a specific instance of the application to the individual form, the 
following instance is taken from the report of one member of the com- 
mittee : 

BUTTERFLY 

An)»one of various species whose larvse can be obtained alive near the end of Sep- 
tember may be employed. The cabbage butterfly (Pieris), the milkweed butterfly 
(Danais), or the swallow-tail butterfly (Papilio) will meet these conditions. 

DRAWINGS 

1. Imago : dorsal view, wings expanded. X, i or 2. 

2. Imago : leftside, wings closed. (The bodies in i and 2 are to be drawn parallel 
to each other). X, i or 2. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 1 7 9 

3. Imago : front of head. X, ID. 

4. Pupa : left side. 

5. Full-grown larva : dorsal view. 

6. Full-grown larva : left side. 

QUESTIONS ON EXTERNAL ANATOMY 

1. How many segments behind the head in (a) the imago; {b) the larva; (c) the 
pupa? 

2. What external organs of the imago can be identified in the pupa ? 

3. Which feet of the larva correspond with those of the imago ? 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIVING LARVA 

Each student (or group of students) should be provided with a glass vessel covered 
with netting and containing food leaves, for keeping the larva during pupation. 

1. How is locomotion effected ? Illustrate by diagrams. 

2. How does the larva feed ? Observe and record the movements of the mouthparts 
and of the head during feeding. Draw the outline of a partly eaten leaf. 

3. (This observation must extend thru several days.) Make and record observations 
upon the act of pupation. 

TOPICS FOR THE TEACHER 

(i) The habits and food of butterflies. (2) The number of broods of butterflies 
during a single season and seasonal dimorphism. (3) Protective resemblance and 
mimicry. (4) The larger divisions and commoner native forms of lepidoptera. (Exam- 
ples of lepidoptera illustrating the commoner native types should be shown, and students 
encouraged to collect and classify them.) (5) The hymenoptera ; their structure, classi- 
fication, and habits. 

ZOOL.OGICAL SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE OF SIXTY, NATIONAL 
EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

1. From the Northeastern Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools: 

Professor William T. Sedgwick, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

Boston, Mass. 
Mr. William Orr, Jr., High School, Springfield, Mass. 

2. From the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and Mary- 

land: 
Professor E. G. Conklin, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Mr. Oliver D. Clark, Boys' High School, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

3. From the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools: 

Professor Henry Baldwin Ward, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb., 

Secretary- Chairman. 

Mr. J. W. Matthews, Principal of High School, Grand Rapids, Mich. 

4. From the Southern Association of Colleges and High Schools: 

Professor Henry B. Orr, Tulane University, New Orleans, La. 
Mr. C. E. Harris, McDonough High School No. i. New Orleans, La. 

5. From the American Association for the Advancement of Science: 

Professor Alpheus Spring Packard, Brown University, Providence, R. L 
Mr. Franklin W. Barrows, Central High School, Buffalo, N. Y. 

6. From the Department of Natural Science Teaching, National Educational Association : 

Dr. Charles Benedict Davenport, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 



l8o NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 



PHYSICS 



The Committee on Physics of the Science Department of the 
National Educational Association did not submit a regular report signed 
by the members of the committee. These were : 

Professor E. H. Hall, Harvard University, chairman. 

Professor H. S. Carhart, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

R. B. Fulton, Chancellor, University of Mississippi. 

C. L. Harrington, Sachs' Collegiate Institute, New York, N. Y. 

Julius Hortvet, East Side High School, Minneapolis, Minn. 

C. J. Ling, Manual Training School, Denver, Colo. 

Professor E. L. Nichols, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 

E. D. Pierce, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. 

Professor Fernando Sanford, Leland Stanford Jr. University, Cal. 

Professor B, F. Thomas, Ohio State University, Columbus. 

Edward R. Robbins, Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N. J. 

The basis of a report, suggested by Professor Hall, and consisting of a 
list of laboratory experiments, is given below. Comments by the mem- 
bers of the committee, in case they dissented from any part of this, were 
to be sent at once to the chairman of the Committee on College-Entrance 
Requirements. It may be assumed that the list met with the approval of 
those who did not so indicate dissent. Such comments as have been 
received are given after Professor Hall's statement. 

OUTLINE OF .LABORATORY WORK IN PHYSICS FOR 
SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

At least thirty-five exercises, selected from a list of sixty or more, not 
very different from the list given below. In this list the divisions are 
mechanics (including hydrostatics), light, heat, sound, and electricity 
(with magnetism). At least ten of the exercises selected should be in 
mechanics. The exercises in sound may be omitted altogether; but 
each of the three remaining divisions should be represented by at least 
three exercises. 

The division of the list into a first part and a second part is intended 
to facilitate and encourage beginning the study of physics very early in 
the school course. Most of the exercises in the first part have proved 
to be within the power of boys of fourteen or fifteen years, altho older 
pupils can do them more readily, as they can do all other work except 
tasks of pure memory. The cost of apparatus for the exercises of the 
fisrt part is very small. 



COLLEGE-ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS i8l 

FIRST PART 

PRELIMINARY EXERCISES 

[Recommended, but not to be counted] 

A. Measurement of a straight line. 

B. Lines of the right triangle and the circle. 

C. Area of an oblique parallelogram. 

D. Volume of a rectangular body by displacement of water. 

MECHANICS AND HYDROSTATICS 

1. Weight of unit volume of a substance. 

2. Lifting effect of water upon a body entirely immersed in it. 

3. Specific gravity of a solid body that will sink in water. 

4. Specific gravity of a block of wood by use of a sinker. 

5. Weight of water displaced by a floating body. 

6. Specific gravity by flotation method. 

7. Specific gravity of a liquid : two methods. 

8. The straight lever : first class. 

9. Center of gravity and weight of a lever. 

10. Levers of the second and third classes. 

11. Force exerted at the fulcrum of a lever. 

12. Errors of a spring balance. 

13. Parallelogram of forces. 

14. Friction between solid bodies (on a level). 

15. Coefficient of friction (by sliding on incline). 

LIGHT 

16. Use of Rumford photometer. 

17. Images in a plane mirror. 

18. Images formed by a convex cylindrical mirror. 

19. Images formed by a concave cylindrical mirror. 

20. Index of refraction of glass. 

21. Index of refraction of water. 

22. Focal length of a converging lens. 

23. Conjugate foci of a lens. 

24. Shape and size of a real image formed by a lens. 

25. Virtual image formed by a lens. 

SECOND PART 
MECHANICS 

26. Breaking-Strength of a wire. 

27. Comparison of wires in breaking-tests. 

28. Elasticity ; stretching. 

29. Elasticity : bending ; effect of varying loads. 

30. Elasticity : bending ; effect of varying dimensions. 

31. Elasticity: twisting. 

32. Specific gravity of a liquid by balancing columns. 

33. Compressibility of air : Boyle's law. 

34. Density of air. 

35. Four forces at right angles in one plane. 

36. Comparison of masses by acceleration-test. 
-37. Action and reaction: elastic collision. 

38. Elastic collision continued : inelastic collision. 



1 82 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

HEAT 

39. Testing a mercury thermometer. 

40. Linear expansion of a solid. 

41. Increase of pressure of a gas heated at constant volume. 

42. Increase of volume of a gas heated at constant pressure. 

43. Specific heat of a solid. 

44. Latent heat of melting. 

45. Determination of the dew-point. 

46. Latent heat of vaporization. 

SOUND 

47. Velocity of sound in open air. 

48. Wave-length of sound. 

49. Number of vibrations of a tuning-fork. 

ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM 

50. Lines of force near a bar magnet. 

51. Study of a single-fluid galvanic cell. 

52. Study of a two-fluid galvanic cell. 

53. Lines of force about a galvanoscope. 

54. Resistance of wires by substitution : various lengths. 

55. Resistance of wires by substitution : cross-section and multiple arc. 

56. Resistance by Wheatstone's bridge : specific resistance of copper. 

57. Temperature-coefficient of resistance in copper. 

58. Battery resistance. 

59. Putting together the parts of a telegraph key and sounder. 

60. Putting together the parts of a small motor. 

61. Putting together the parts of a small dynamo. 

Professor Carhart suggests forty experiments similar to these. Twenty- 
four of these coincide exactly in title with items in the above list. The 
following fourteen are new, but many of them are probably implied in 
the list of sixty-one. 

The Jolly balance. 

Laws of the pendulum. 

Pressure. 

Curve of magnetization. 

Action of current on needle. 

Fall of potential in conductor. 

E. M. F. of cell. 

The tangent galvanometer. 

Velocity of sound in solids (Kundt). 

Law of length for strings (sound). 

Law of diameter for strings (sound). 

Law of tension for strings (sound). 

Law of reflection (light). 

Measurement of angle of prism (light). 



PARTIAL LIST OF THOSE WHO HAVE ASSISTED IN THE 
PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT 



Herbert B. Adams, 

Professor of American and Institutional History, Johns Hopkins University, Bal- 
timore, Md. 

George B. Aiton, 

State Inspector of High Schools, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Edwin A. Alderman, 

President of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. 

E. H. Babbitt, 

Instructor in German, Columbia University, New York city. 

Cecil F. P. Bancroft, 

Principal of Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. 

Charles R. Barnes, 

Professor of Botany, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 

Franklin W. Barrows, 

Central High School, Buffalo, N. Y. 

W. H. Bartholomew, 

Principal of Girls' High School, Louisville, Ky. 
G. W. Benton, 

High School, Indianapolis, Ind. 
J. Y. Bergen, Jr., 

High School, Boston, Mass. 
Charles E. Bessey, 

Professor of Botany, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. 
J. Remsen Bishop, 

Principal of Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati, O. 
B. L. Bo wen. 

Professor of Romance Languages, University of Ohio, Columbus, O. 
E. R. Boyer, 

Assistant to Superintendent of Schools, Chicago, 111. 
H. C. G. Brandt, 

Professor of German, Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y. 
Albert Perry Brigham, 

Professor of Geology, Colgate University, Hamilton, N. Y. 
John T. Buchanan, 

Principal of Boys' High School, New York city. 

William H. Butts, 

Instructor in Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 
James H. Canfield, 

President of Ohio State University, Columbus, O. 

H. S. Carhart, 

Professor of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 
W. H. Carruth, 

Professor of German, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. 

183 



1 84 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

Franklin Carter, 

President of Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. 

Edward B. Clapp, 

Professor of Greek, University of California, Berkeley, Cal. 

Collier Cobb, 

Professor of Geology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. 

G. L. Collie, 

Professor of Geology, Beloit College, Beloit, Wis. 

David Y. Comstock, 

Principal of St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johnsbury, Vt. 

E. G. CONKLIN, 

Professor of Comparative Embryology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

R. H. Cornish, 

Assistant in Physics, Girls' High School, New York city. 

John M. Coulter, 

Professor of Botany, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 

E. G. Coy, 

Principal of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. 

E. W. Coy, 

Principal of the Hughes High School, Cincinnati, O 

J. G. Crosswell, 

Principal of the Brearley School, New York city. 

S. W. Cutting, 

Associate Professor of German, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 

Charles Benedict Davenport, 

Professor of Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Ellery W. Davis, 

Professor of Mathematics, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. 

W. M. Davis, 

Professor of Physical Geography, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Melvil Dewey, 

Secretary of the Board of Regents and State Librarian, Albany, N. Y. 

W. L. Dudley, 

Professor of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. 

A. M. Elliott, 

Professor of Romance Languages, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 

Arthur Fairbanks, 

Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 

Wilson Farrand, 

Associate Principal, Newark Academy, Newark, N. J. 

Henry B. Fine, 

Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton, N. J. 

George L. Fox, 

Principal of the Hopkins Grammar School, New Haven, Conn. 

P. C. Freer, 

Professor of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 

Charles W. French, 

Principal of Hyde Park High School, Chicago, 111. 

R. B. Fulton, 

Chancellor, University of Mississippi, University, Miss. 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 185 

! : : J , 

William Gallagher, 

Principal of the Thayer Academy, South Braintree, Mass. 

W. F. Ganong, 

Professor of Botany, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. 

Charles B. Gilbert, 

Superintendent of Schools, Newark, N. J. 

C. H. Grandgent, 

Professor of Romance Philology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

W. B. Graves, 

Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. . 

Edward H. Griffin, 

Professor of the History of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md, 

William Gardner Hale, 

Professor of Latin, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 

E. H. Hall, 

Professor of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

B. D. Halsted, 

Professor of Botany, Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J. 

Paul H. Hanus, 

Assistant Professor of the History and Art of Education, Harvard Univel"sity, 
Cambridge, Mass. 

William R. Harper, 

President of the University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 

C. L. Harrington, 

Sachs' Collegiate Institute, New York city. 

C. E. Harris, 

McDonough High School No. i. New Orleans, La. 
Albert Bushnell Hart, 

Professor of History, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Charles H. Haskins, 

Professor of European History, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 

C. A. Hench, 

Professor of Germanic Languages, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 
Burke A. Hinsdale, 

Professor of the Science and Art of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 
Mich. 

Thomas F. Holgate, 

Professor of Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, 111. 

Julius Hortvet, 

East Side High School, Minneapolis, Minn. 

David W. Hoyt, 

English High School, Providence, R. I. 

L. S. Hulburt, ^ 

Collegiate Professor of Mathematics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 
Ray Greene Huling, 

Principal of English High School, Cambridge, Mass. 

Lawrence C. Hull, 

Principal of Academic Department, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, New York 
city. 

Edmund J. James, 

Professor of Public Administration, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 



1 86 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

J. M. Jameson, 

Professor in Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York city. 

William Carey Jones, 

Professor of Jurisprudence, University of California, Berkeley, Cal. 

R. P. Keep, 

Principal of the Free Academy, Norwich, Conn. 

Francis W. Kelsey, 

Professor of Latin, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 

George L. Kittredge, 

Professor of English, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Abby Leach, 

Professor of Greek, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

C. J. Ling, 

Manual Training School, Denver, Colo. 

C. W. Lyon, Jr., . 

Principal Grammar School No. 78, Brooklyn, New York city. 
C. F. Mabery, 

Professor of Chemistry, Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, O. 
Andrew C. McLaughlin, 

, Professor of American History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 
J. W. Matthews, 

Principal of High School, Grand Rapids, Mich. 

Richard A. Minckwitz, 

Principal of Kansas City High School, Kansas City, Mo. 
C. A. Mitchell, 

Classical Master of the University School, Cleveland, O. 
i[. N. Mitchell, 

State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wis. 

W. D. MOONEY, 

Principal of the Mooney School, Franklin, Tenn. 

H. B. Newson, 

Associate Professor of Mathematics, Kansas State University, Lawrence, Kan. 

E. L. Nichols, 

Professor of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
A. F. Nightingale, 

Superintendent of High Schools, Chicago, 111. 

Henry B. Orr, 

Professor of Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, La. 

William Orr, Jr., 

High School, Springfield, Mass. 

W. F. Osgood, 

Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

Alpheus Spring Packard, 

Professor of Zoology, Brown University, Providence, R. I. 

Charles Skeele Palmer, 

Professor of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo. 

Frank Owen Payne, 

High School, Glen Cove, N. Y. 

E. D. Pierce, 

Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. 



NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 187 

J. H. Pratt, 

Principal of the Milwaukee Academy, Milwaukee, Wis. 

H. H. Rennert, 

Professor of Romance Languages, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. 

William North Rice, 

.Professor of Geology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. 

Edward R. Robbins, 

Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N. J, 

Oscar D. Robinson, 

Principal of the Albany High School, Albany, N. Y. 

Frank Rollins, 

Boys' High School, New York city. 

James E. Russell, 

Dean of Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York city. 

Albert Ruth, 

High School, Knoxville, Tenn. 

Julius Sachs, 

Principal of the Collegiate School, New York city. 

Lucy M. Salmon, 

Professor of History in Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

Fernando Sanford, 

Professor of Physics, Leland Stanford Jr. University, Cal. 

J. J. SCHOBINGER, 

Principal, Harvard School, Chicago, 111. 

William T. Sedgwick, 

Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. 

Thomas Day Seymour, 

Professor of Greek, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 

J. B. Shaw, 

Department of Mathematics in Michigan Military Academy, Orchard Lake, Mich. 
H. G. Sherrard, 

Classical Master of the High School, Detroit, Mich. 
William H. Smiley, 

Principal of High School, District No. i, Denver, Colo. 
Alexander Smith, 

Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 

Charles Forster Smith, 

Professor of Greek, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 

Clement L. Smith, 

Professor of Latin, Harvard University, Cambridge Mass. 

E. F. Smith, 

Professor of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Fa. 
Herbert Weir Smyth, 

Professor of Greek, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa. 
William B. Snow, 

Teacher of French, English High School, Boston, Mass. 
W. H. Snyder, 

Master in Science, Worcester Academy, Worcester, Mass. 

H. Morse Stephens, 

Professor of Modern European History, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



1 88 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

Ralph S. Tarr, . 

Professor of Dynamical Geology and Physical Geography, Cornell University, '>* 

Ithaca, N. Y. 

John Tetlow, 

Head Master of the. Girls' High School and of the Boys' High School, Boston, 
Mass. 

B. F. Thomas, 

Professor of Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, O. 

Calvin Thomas, 

Professor of Germanic Languages, Columbia University, New York city. 

Charles H. Thurber, 

Associate Professor of Pedagogy, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 

William P. T'Rent, 

Professor of English and History, University of the South, Suwanee, Tenn. 

A. W. Tressler, 

Superintendent of Schools, Monroe, Mich. 

Albert H. Tuttle, 

Professor of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. 

George R. Twiss, 

Head Science Teacher, Central High School, Cleveland, O. 

W. T. Van Buskirk, 

High School, Peoria, 111. 

B. M. Walker, 

Professor of Mathematics in the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, 
Agricultural College, Miss. 

Henry Baldwin Ward, 

Professor of Zoology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. 
MiNTON Warren, 

Professor of Latin, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. 

W. R. Webb, 

Prmcipal of Webb School, Bell Buckle, Tenn. 

B. W. Wells, \ 

Professor of Modern Languages, University of the South, Suveanee, Tenn. 

Andrew F. West, 

Professor of Latin, Princeton University, Princeton, N. J. 

J. W. A. Young, 

Assistant Professor of Mathematical Pedagog)^ University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. 



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